Life as a Lyoko Warrior
by SuperDuper101
Summary: Dialla Reinhart is a 13 year old girl who originally lived in Florida. Her father got a new job in the Lyoko Warrior's hometown and she became a member of Kadic Acadmey. There, she meets the gang, becomes one of them, and discovers shocking secrets. UxOC
1. First day of a CRAZY school

I walked at a leisurely pace behind Mr. Delmas, the principal of Kadic Junior High School, a boarding school I attended. My red backpack was slung casually over my shoulder, my suitcase was gripped in my other hand. I was wearing a white spaghetti-strapped shirt, a tan jacket, and dark blue jeans with a brown belt. On my feet were brown sandals. My short brown bangs were in my face, hiding my auburn eyes. I brushed my bangs out of my eyes. Mr. Delmas walked towards a door and knocked twice. There was a faint voice, a woman, and he opened the door and stepped inside; I followed him.

"Oh, Good morning, Mr. Delmas," the teacher said. She had short gray hair, glasses and was wearing a white lab coat.

"Sorry to interrupt, but we have a new student," he said, then gestured me to introduce myself.

"My name is Dialla Reinhart and I just moved here from Florida. So, yeah." I said nonchalantly, giving a short wave.

"Alright, who would like to show her to her room?" Mr. Delmas asked.

Hands flew into the air, mostly boys, and loud begs echoed the small room. One boy in particular caught my attention. A boy with blonde hair and a purple spot in the middle of his hair. He was dressed in a purple attire and practically falling out of his chair with his hand raised. I couldn't help but laugh.

"Hm, how about you, Odd," Mr. Delmas said and pointed to the blonde boy.

"Yes!" the boy cheered. "Whoa!" he added in a cry as he fell out of his chair.

The class erupted with laughter, including myself and the boy, Odd. He scrambled to his feet laughing and rushed towards me.

"Hi, there!" he said. "I'm Odd Della Robbia. Nice to meet you Dialla."

"Nice to meet you too, Odd," I said.

"She's in room 205 Mr, Della Robbia," Mr. Delmas said, "No goofing off."

"No promises, sir," he said then grabbed my hand and led me out of the class room.

We walked up to a room marked 205 and opened the door. It was a decent sized room with one bed, a closet, a drawer, a desk and a window. I placed my suitcase down and sat on the bed.

"Mmm, comfy," I said and laid down.

A second later, the bell rang and Odd beamed.

"Yes!" he cried. "Lunchtime!"

I glanced at my wristwatch. "Wow, noon already, huh?"

"Yep. C'mon! Now you can meet my friends!" Odd said.

I stood up and he raced out of the room. I quickly followed him. We arrived at the cafeteria within a few minutes. People were standing in line getting food, others had already gotten there food and were sitting with their friends.

Odd and I walked into our line and picked up a tray. It soon became filled with mashed potatoes, gravy and peas.

"Mmmm! You came to school on a good day, D. Kadic makes the best potates ever!" Odd said. "You don't mind if I call ya D, do you?"

I shook my head. "No, go right ahead."

"Thanks,"

After we got our food he walked over to a table where two boys and a girl sat. One boy had blonde hair and glasses. He was wearing a blue turtleneck and tan pants. The other boy had brunette hair and was wearing a yellowish green shirt, a green jacket and dark green cargo pants. The girl had short black hair and was all dressed in black.

"Hey guys," Odd said and sat down.

I hesitated slightly but sat down as well. Odd nudged me in the ribs slightly and whispered for me to say hi.

"H-Hi," I said shyly.

"Guys, this is Dialla Reinhart. She's a new student here," Odd explained.

The brunette boy nodded. "Right. We never got a chance to introduce ourselves in Biology. I'm Ulrich Stern. Nice to meet you."

"I'm Jeremy Belopois," the blond boy said.

"My name is Yumi Ishiyama," the black haired girl said.

"Nice to meet you too," I said.

We talked for the rest of lunch until the bell rang for the next period.

"What do you have next, D?" Odd questioned.

"Um," I reached into my pocket and pulled out my schedule. "Geometry."

"Alright! I have that class too," he said. "Maybe after class we can show you around a little."

"I'd like that."

We put our trays away and walked to the Geometry room.

I'm not a fan of Geometry. Never was, probably never will. So, for the whole class, I played tic-tac-toe with Odd. At the same time, I wrote notes, so when the teacher would occasionally ask what we were doing, I simply showed him my notes.

Class ended and as Odd promised, him and the rest of the gang showed me around. We had almost finished the tour, when a loud beeping came from Jeremy's backpack. He pulled out a laptop, opened it and started typing. He looked up at his friends and nodded.

"Sorry, Dialla, we have to go," he said and they ran off.

"But, what about the tour?" I called.

"Sorry, I'll show you the rest of the school later!" Odd called back, "I promise!"

I blinked, surprised, as my new friends emerged into the woods. I raised and eyebrow, shrugged and walked into the school. I realized later that was a mistake. I decided to work on my Pencak Silat a little bit in the gym, so I went back to my dorm to get change. As I did, I bumped into a girl with long black hair and dressed in a pink outfit. I recognized her as Elisabeth Delmas, the principals daughter. Although her name was Elisabeth, everyone called her Sissi. Why they called her that I wasn't sure.

"Oh, sorry, Sissi," I said.

When she turned to face me, she was angry. But not the, oh-my-god-you-just-ran-into-me-you-clumsy-idiot angry. More like the I'm gonna-kill-you-for-no-reason angry. It was evident in her eyes. Quick as a snake, she struck me hard in the face. I collided with the wall, uttering a soft groan and hit the floor. Pain appeared and spread throughout my body. I held my cheek and looked up at her, scared. She tried to strike me again, but I quickly rolled out of the way, and swiped her feet with my foot. She fell to the floor with a thud and I quickly flipped onto my feet and ran. I quickly darted around a corner and ran outside.

*Jeez! Someone is PMSing!*

I pulled out my cell phone and dialled Odd's number, grateful he gave it to me during Geometry. It rang a couple of times until I got his voice mail. I cursed under my breath and ran.

I ducked behind a tree and crouched down, silently praying someone would come soon and help me. After waiting a while, I felt like I was being watched. I peered around the tree. Bad timing. Once I did, Sissi immediately saw me, growled slightly and ran at me. I yelped slightly, scramble to my feet and ran again. I didn't run long because next thing I knew, I tripped over a branch and fell onto the grass. I looked over at Sissi, who was now just a few feet from me, a metal bar in her hands.

*Oh come on!*

She brought the bar down on me and I screamed, my hands out infront of me. I waited for a blow but nothing came. I looked up at her and she dropped the crowbar and sunk into my lap unconscious.

I stared at her, utterly appalled. One minute, she's trying to kill me, the next she faints. I sighed and gently moved her off of my body, then laid down on the grass. A soft breeze blew by and I ran a hand through my hair. It felt so nice, I decided to take a little nap. That little nap, ended out being a long and deep sleep.

When I awoke I was in a bed. I sat up, rubbing my eyes, confused on how I got here.

"Oh, your awake," A voice startled me.

I jumped slightly and saw a woman with blond hair wearing a white nurse coat sitting in a chair next to my bed. I stared at her befuddled.

"Where am I?" I questioned.

"You're in the infirmary. You were found asleep outside, as well as Elisabeth, and your friends brought you inside. I'm Ms. Perraudin, the school nurse." she answered.

I looked around and saw Sissi still unconscious on the other bed. Then I climbed off the bed.

"Are you feeling better?' she asked.

"Yes, I'm going to head back to class. Do you know what period this is?"

"It's free period. I would use it to thank your friends and then get some rest, dear."

I nodded. "I will." Then I walked out of the infirmary

I roamed around the campus and found the gang at the vending machine. I walked over to them.

Odd was the first to notice me. "Oh, hey Dialla. Feeling better?"

"Yeah, thanks for bringing me in," I replied.

"No problem," Jeremy said. "However, we noticed a crowbar near Sissi. Did she attack you?"

I paused, pondering what had happened so far today. "Yeah, she did. But, she wasn't herself. It was like she was possessed or something."

"What do you mean?" Ulrich asked.

"There was a weird symbol in her eye. I can't really describe it."

"Can you draw a picture?" Jeremy demanded.

"Uh, sure,"

I grabbed a stick and drew the symbol. They stared at it, shocked. I looked at them confused and my phone rang. I pulled out my phone and checked the caller ID. It was my mom.

"Oh, I gotta take this," I said. "I'll see you later."

"Bye," They said as I walked away.


	2. Strange Dream

Ulrich's POV

As soon as she was out of earshot, Jeremy spoke up.

"XANA, huh," he said.

"But why would XANA want to attack Dialla?" Yumi wondered.

"She could've been in the wrong place at the wrong time," I suggested.

"Maybe," Jeremy said. "We'll have to wait and see."

"Right," I agreed and took a sip of my hot chocolate.

Dialla's POV

After talking to my mom for about forty-five minutes, taking a quick nap and then having dinner. It was finally time for bed. For some reason, I was really exhausted. Probably because of all the crap that had happened today. I changed into my nightware, a white tanktop exposing my stomach and black shorts, climbed into my bed and fell asleep. Once I fell asleep, I had a bizarre dream. I was in some kind of world, a desert type area. There was a tower in the distance, as well as four people and strange creatures. There were two boys and two girls. One boy had blonde hair and was dressed in a purple attire. The other boy had spiked brown hair with a yellow headband and was wearing a yellow outfit.

One girl had black hair tied in a bun and had on a black and red kimono, while the other girl had pink hair and was wearing a pink outfit. The brown haired boy, the blond and the black haired girl reminded me of Ulrich, Odd and Yumi, which was weird. The pink haired girl was hiding behind a rock, while the others stood infront and protected her. The creatures were very peculiar. There were two crabs and two cockroach like animals. They both had the same symbol as the one in Sissi's eye from earlier. They would occasionally fire red beams at them. The blonde haired boy occasionally cried out "Laser Arrow." while aiming his fists at the creatures. The brown haired had a sword and would deflect red beams fired at him. The black haired girl had fans which she used to attack and defend herself. I watched in bewilderment at the battle right before my eyes. Suddenly a beam flew passed them and struck me.

Then everything went black and I woke up. I jerked up in my bed, my alarm buzzing. I wiped the sweat from my forehead and looked over at the clock. It was 7:10. Breakfast was in twenty minutes. I drew a deep breath and let it out slowly.

"What was that?" I asked myself. "What a strange dream. For a second there, they looked like..." I shook my head. "Nah. No way."

I quickly changed into some comfortable clothes and put my hair up in a messy bun. Then I walked slowly to the cafeteria, the bizzare dream on my mind.

I didn't even know Odd was talking to me untill his hand moved up and down infront of my face. I blinked and took a step back. Both him and Ulrich stood infront of me, trays of food in their hands. I assumed I almost walked into him.

"Sorry," I said.

"No problem. Now hurry and get some breakfast. We saved you a seat with us." he replied smiling.

I smiled back and quickly got a tray filled with scrambled eggs, bacon, toast and a glass of orange juice then joined my new friends at the table they sat at.

"Morning," Yumi and Jeremy said.

"Morning," I repeated.

"You were kinda spacing out earlier," Ulrich stated. "Everything okay?"

I nodded. "Yeah, just this weird dream I had."

"Care to tell us?" Jeremy asked.

I paused, thinking it over. It was, after all, a dream, I doubt they would judge me because of it.

"Well, in my dream, I was in some weird desert area. There was a tower in the horizon and four people, two boys and two girls, fighting crabs and cockroaches. And for a moment, they looked like Ulrich, Odd and Yumi. The other girl had pink hair. I didn't recognize her. I got shot and then I woke up."

I looked up at them, nervously. Ulrich, Odd and Yumi looked at Jeremy out of the corner of their eye before looking at me.

"What a strange dream," Jeremy said.

"Yeah," I said, "and I have a habit of having strange dreams, but this one was so vivid. Like I could actually touch something."

Before I could wait for their responses, the bell rang for first period.

"Alright! Time for Phys. Ed!" Odd exclaimed. "You have that class too, right, D?"

I nodded. "Looks like we have a lot of classes together."

"Maybe all," he said grinning.

"Maybe," I grinned back.

We put our trays away and I notice my friends hesitate. I turned back to them.

"You coming?" I inquired.

"Uh, yeah," Jeremy said. "Go on with out us, okay?"

"Uh, okay," I said, slightly confused and walked to the track.

Jeremy's POV

"How does she know about Lyoko?" Odd asked.

"Calm down. We're not entirely sure she knows about Lyoko." Ulrich said.

"But she had a dream about it."

"A dream. That doesn't make it real."

"But it's exactly what happened yesterday in Lyoko," I interjected. "You guys were at the desert region, and you fought Kankrelats and Krabes."

"Coincedence?" Yumi suggessted.

"Doubt it," I said, "I'm starting to think that Dialla is somehow connected to Lyoko."

"What do you mean, Einstien?" Odd asked.

"I mean, Dialla may be something XANA wants, if so we have to protect her.... or something XANA fears, in which case we'll have to add her to our group."

"We'll _have _to?" Yumi asked.

"It'll helps us become closer to destroying XANA and materilizng Aelita." I reminded her. "But still, it's just a theory. Nothing to worry about for now."

"Jeremy's right. Anyway, let's go or we'll be late for class." Ulrich said.

We nodded and Yumi walked off to a different class while Odd, Ulrich and I made our way to the track.


	3. Joining the Group

Dialla's POV

After changing into my gym clothes, a white tanktop and blue kaprees, Jim had us do some stretches. Ulrich, Odd and Jeremy got to class a few minutes later and got scolded by Jim. I couldn't help but smile.

"Alright, listen up!" Jim said. "Today, we'll be doing a relay race. Get into four groups of four and get ready."

I immediately looked at Odd and Ulrich. They nodded in agreement and I walked over. Since Jeremy wasn't good at gym - or just lazy - he sat on the bench and we had a boy with dark blackish blue hair and emerald green eyes. Odd was first, Ulrich was next, then the boy, and I was last.

"On your mark..."

Odd and others tensed.

"Get set..."

They got in their stances.

"GO!"

Odd took off like a rocket, running full speed around the track.

*Wow, he _is_ fast*

After a about a minute or so, he was running towards Ulrich, the baton stretched out in his hand. Ulrich began running a few steps until the baton slapped in his hand, then he too ran full speed. I watched in amazement at how fast they were. Soon it was the black haired boy's turn and he ran like lightning. I started to take a few steps and felt the baton brush my fingertips.

I yanked it and took off. I love running. I love feeling the wind in your face and the adrenaline flowing through your veins. Which was happening right now. I heard Odd, Ulrich and Jeremy cheering my name and I smiled, cockily. Suddenly, someone started to catch up. I gritted my teeth and ran faster. I looked up ahead and I saw the finish line only a few meters ahead.

Suddenly a foot stuck out in front of mine, causing me to trip. I uttered a soft scream as I flew forward. I held my arms out in front of me, which scraped across the cobbled ground. I glared daggers as the boy who had tripped me grinned at me as he raced past me and crossed the finish line. Quickly after, two more people raced passed me.

"Dialla!" I heard my friends cry.

Ulrich was the first to get to me and he helped me get to my feet. Blood trickled down my forearms and my knees from the fresh wounds I received.

"Are you alright?" Odd asked concerned.

I nodded.

"What happened?" Jim demanded, walking over.

"I fell and scraped my arms and knees," I lied.

"Right, _fell,_" Ulrich muttered.

"Alright, Stern, take her to the infirmary," Jim ordered. "The rest of you pair up and start doing sit-ups!"

The class groaned and Ulrich helped me to the infirmary.

"You end up at the infirmary a lot, huh?" he said. "You were here yesterday, and now today. Are you jinxed or something?"

I laughed slightly. "You could say that."

He laughed as well and we reached the infirmary.

"You're back again?" She noticed the bloody wounds. "What happened?"

"She tripped and fell." Ulrich explained.

"I see. Well, come sit over here," She gestured to the bed with her head while she rummaged though some drawers. She retrieved a box of band-aids and some rubbing alcohol.

"This will sting a little," she warned and poured the alcohol onto a small pad and rubbed it on my forearms and legs. When it I flinched. Then she stuck the band-aids carefully on the wounds.

"There," she said. "You're all set."

I thanked her and Ulrich helped me to my feet and led me out of the infirmary.

As soon as we got out of the infirmary, we heard screams and footsteps. We saw kids run past us, terrified looks on their faces. We looked in the direction they came from and a giant orb of electricity coming towards us.

"Do you think you can run?" Ulrich asked quickly.

"Probably." I said. "Why? What's going on?"

"No time to explain. Come on," he grabbed my hand and ran the opposite way.

The orb chased us and Ulrich ran into the gym. He went into another room and quickly shut the door.

"What the heck was that about?" I asked shocked. "It was like that thing was alive."

Ulrich pulled out his phone and dialled a number. "Jeremy, XANA's launched an attack."

_"Yeah, I know," _he said from the other end_. "Odd and I are on our way and I just called Yumi. Where's Dialla?"_

"She's with me,"

_"Good, bring her with you."_

"Are you sure?"

_"Yeah, I think my theory is correct. And if not, it's always good to have another member."_

"Alright. I'll meet you at the factory," he said and hung up.

He turned to me. "Can you keep a secret?"

I nodded.

"Good. I'll explain on the way. Follow me."

He led me through a red door, which opened up to a tunnel, and we walked quickly down the strange tunnel and ended up at the sewers.

"A sewer?" I asked.

"Yeah," he said and grabbed a skateboard. "Hope on."

I hesitated but climbed on the back of his skateboard and wrapped my arms around his waist. He took off and it was actually really nice being so close to him. We reached the end of the sewer and climbed up a latter. He climbed through first then helped me up. Then we started running towards a factory a few yards in front of us.

"Remember that dream you told us about? It was real. That dream actually happened. And that place you were in was a desert region in a world called Lyoko. It's a virtual world controlled by a program called XANA. XANA can attack our world, which is why Sissi attacked you yesterday. There's a girl named Aelita that lives in Lyoko and she is the only one who can stop his attacks. XANA has creatures that try to attack her and it's our job as Lyoko Warriors to protect Aelita from XANA and make sure she deactivates a red tower which stops XANA's attack."

"Wow, that's a lot," I stated.

We finally reached the factory and slid down a rop which led to an elevator. We walked inside and Ulrich hit a button. The elevator shut and we began to descend. The elevator opened and we arrived in a large room with three scanners. The whole room was illuminated with a yellow light. I stared at the scanners nervously and Ulrich walked to one of them, but stopped and looked at me.

"Don't worry," he said. "Since this is your first time, I'll protect you."

I stared at me, my mouth open slightly in surprise, since that was the first time anyone said something like that.

"Yumi and Odd are already there, so they'll help out too."

He smiled and held out his hand. I looked at it and grabbed it without any hesitation.

I stepped into a scanner and Ulrich did the same.

"_Transfer, Ulrich,"_ I heard Jeremy say. _"Transfer, Dialla."_

The scanners closed and I looked around.

_"Scanner, Ulrich. Scanner, Dialla."_

My brown hair blew around me, my kaprees flapping around.

"_Vertualization!"_

The wind grew stronger and seemed to raise me in the air as I traveled to Lyoko.


	4. Fighting Monsters and Getting a New Pal

Ulrich's POV

I landed swiftly on my feet in the mountain sector and looked around. Jeremy had sent us a small distance away from where the others were. I heard a thump and a moan of pain. I turned around and saw Dialla sitting on the ground.

"Oh yeah, you fall," I said.

She glared at me and stood up. I had a hard time composing my face when she did. Red leather shoes turned to pants and stretched up her legs, turning gray as they did. Her pants turned to red and white at her shins and stretched up to her torso, with a bit of gray on her ribs. Her chest was covered with a white protective plate. Her arms were covered with red and white sleeves, gray on the sides, and she had on white gloves. She had two shoulder guards and a holster on her right hip. Her brown hair was tied in a bun.

"Whoa," I said softly.

She looked over at me, smiling. "Well? What do you think?"

"Uh, well, you look... uh,"

"Guys, incoming." Jeremy said. "Two hornets coming at you directly."

Dialla's POV

I looked up and saw two bugs flying at us. One of them fired a beam at me and I flinched. A sword got in front of me and deflected the beam.

"Try using your gun," he said.

"Oh! Right," I said, embarrassed that I froze up.

I reached into the holster and pulled out the gun. I aimed at one of the hornets and fired. It hit the hornet right on the eye and it exploded. The other one fired at me at the same time I did. The hornet got destroyed and I got shot in the shoulder. I staggered back a little, wincing, holding my arm.

"You okay?" Ulrich asked.

"Yeah," I said. "You forgot to mention that we actually _feel_ this pain."

"Oh, sorry," he apologized.

"Guys!" Jeremy interrupted. "Focus! Odd just got devertualized and Yumi has 50 life points left. Move it! You've got a megatank, three krabes and three hornets to deal with."

"Oh great," Ulrich said. "Let's go."

"Right."

He took off and I followed him, amazed at how much my speed had enhanced. When the hornets came into my firing range, I pulled out the gun and shot them. I got one but the other two dodged and fired at me. I did a cartwheel out of the way. As I did, I heard a soft click coming from my left shoulder guard. I tugged on it and it came off then turned into a boomerang. The hornets fired at me again, and I leaped out of the way and threw the boomerang. It cut one, destroying it, but the second one evaded it. Fortunately, since it was a boomerang, it came back from behind the other hornet and cut it in half. I caught it and out of the corner of my eye, I saw a beam fire at me from a krabe.

I did a backflip into the air and landed on the krabe. This time, however, I used the boomerang as a knife and jammed it into the krabe, then quickly flipped off. I smirked cockily and Ulrich suddenly tackled me crying, "Look out!"

A large red beam just missed us by a few inches. I looked up and saw Ulrich's face inches from mine. If I could've blushed I would have. He got up quickly and helped me up. A couple feet in front of us was a large bowling-ball like monster.

"Yumi! Dialla! Get Aelita to the tower," Ulrich ordered. "I'll handle the megatank."

"Come on," Yumi called, standing next to a pink haired girl.

I nodded and ran over to them.

"Hi there," the pink haired girl said. "My name's Aelita."

"Dialla," I stated smiling. "Nice to meet you."

"Ok," Yumi said. "let's go."

We nodded and ran towards the tower. I glanced over my shoulder, watching Ulrich destroy the megatank, and smiling in relief. We arrived at the tower which was brown at the bottom then turned to white, a red aura surrounded it.

"Do your thing, Princess," Ulrich said when he caught up with us.

She nodded and walked into the tower. After a moment, the tower's aura turned blue and Jeremy spoke.

"Ready for a trip into the past, guys?"

"Huh? Wait, does that mean I won't remember this?" I asked.

"No," Ulrich explained. "We remember it but everyone else forgets it."

"Oh god, this is so confusing."

Yumi laughed slightly. "Don't worry you'll get used to it."

"Return to the past now," Jeremy said and the next thing I knew, I was at the track field again, getting ready to run. I blinked, puzzled but heard footsteps behind me and took a few steps forward. The baton slapped into my hand and I took off. I raced around the track and the boy that tripped me earlier had caught up. This time, when he stuck his foot out, I jumped over it and crossed the finishing line.

My friends cheered and the boy stared at me shocked. I smirked at him and my teammate - the boy with blackish blue hair - hugged me. He was about four inches taller than I was so I stumble a little, uttering a small "oh" in surprise.

"That was amazing!" he cheered. "You're an incredible runner, Dialla!"

"Oh, um, thanks," I said, uncomfortably.

He must have sensed that because he released me, his cheeks flushing a slight red. "Sorry, I'm Alex Rider."

I smiled. "Dialla Reinhart, nice to meet you."

He smiled as well and Odd, Ulrich and Jeremy congratulated me.

"Well, not bad. Reinhart," Jim said. "Ever consider running for Kadic track?"

"Um, I'll think about it Jim," I said.

Once we finished the race he had us get a partner and do sit-ups. I was going to ask Odd or Ulrich, but Alex tugged my sleeve.

"Partner?" he asked, flashing me a small smile.

I looked over at Ulrich and Odd, who had paired together, and nodded. "Sure."

We sat down on the grass and he held my ankles. We each had to do 25 sit-ups. I did the push ups easily, chatting with Alex, before switching turns. Each time Alex laid down, his shirt went up a little. Although it was only a little, I could see a small portion of a well-built chest.

"Nice abs," I complimented. "You work out?"

"Yeah," he replied, "three times a week."

"Ooh, impressive," I said. "Perhaps, you and I could work out together some time."

He smiled as he finished. "Yeah, that'd be nice."

I smiled too, releasing his ankles. He sat up then scooted over so he was closer to me. It was awkward but only for a moment because we quickly began talking about various topics.

After class, Alex walked me to my next class, History. I said good bye, waved and walked into the room. I took my seat next to Ulrich, who had a strange look on his face. A cross of anger and something else marred his face. I was puzzled, but couldn't ask any questions because the teacher started rambling on about China. And, since History was my worst subject, I needed to pay attention. However, once class ended, I walked up to him. But I couldn't even make out a word before he noticed me and quickly walked to Biology.

"Hey, Ulrich!" I called to him. "Wait, I-"

He disappeared behind a corner, leaving me speechless and confused.

*What's with him? He's been acting strange ever since Phys. Ed. Did I do something?*

A second after that a voice called my name from behind. I spun around, beaming, expecting to see Ulrich, but my face fell when I saw Alex walking towards me, grinning. He noticed my sad face and cocked his head to the side.

"What's with the face? Something happen?" he asked.

"Huh? Oh, nothing," I said, quickly smiling. "How was Geometry?"

"Terrible. I don't get it at all. How was History?"

"Same. I'm so bad at History."

"I'm pretty good at History. Maybe I could help you out."

"And, even though I'm not a fan of it, I'm good at Geometry."

"So, I could help you with History, and you could help me with Geometry."

"Looks like it."

"What do you have now?"

"Biology, you?"

"Art," he said catching sight of his watch. "Crap! I gotta go! If I'm late again, Mr. Chardin will give me a detention. See you later!"

He turned swiftly on his heel and took off. I turned and contiuned my route to Biology, still wondering about Ulrich's behavior. To my luck, on my way, I saw Odd.

"Odd!" I called and rushed to him.

He looked up at me and smiled. "Oh, hey, D. What's up?"

"Your good friends with Ulrich, right?" I questioned.

"Yeah. Why?" he asked.

"Well, he was kind of weird in History. He looked kinda angry and when I tried to ask him, he ignored me and walked away. Do you know what happened?"

Odd shrugged. "I'm not sure. He didn't say anything to me or Jeremy. I could ask him later, if you want."

"Really? Oh thank you, Odd! That'd be great!" I said and hugged him. "You're the best!"

I released him and walked into Biology, nearly running into Ulrich as I did, who had probably been wondering where Odd went. I skidded to a halt, stopping inches from him. Heat beginning to creep on my cheeks, I looked down slightly. I muttered a "Sorry," and walked passed him to my seat. I was grateful when Mrs. Hertz started class, although I couldn't concentrate. My mind was flooded with thoughts about Ulrich. I did my hardest to focus on the photosynthesis equation, since it was going to be on a test on Friday. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't get him out of my mind.

*Why can't I stop thinking about him? It's not like I like him or anything. No, he's a friend. Besides, even if we did like each other, it'd be really akward with everyone else.*

"Dialla!" Mrs. Hertz snapped. "Are you listening?"

"Y-Yes, ma'am! Sorry," I said.

A few people snickered, people I recognized as Sissi, Nicholas and Herb. I ignored them, focusing on the board, trying to memorize the formula. The bell rang soon and I quickly gathered my things. I had just walked out the door when Ulrich called my name.

"Dialla, can I talk to you for a sec?" he asked.

I looked at him for a moment, studying his face. He was completely serious. I wondered if Odd had talked to him during Biology. There was a little break between now and lunch so I decided to listen to him.

"Sure," I replied, following him as he walked outside.

Ulrich walked over to vending machines and leaned against the wall, casually.

"So, uh, what's up?" I questioned, breaking the silence between us.

"During Phys. Ed," he began, "that guy you partnered with was Alex Rider, a sophomore."

"Yeah? I didn't know that," I said.

*I guess I can't help him with Geometry if he's older than I am...*

He paused for a moment, choosing his words carefully. "Alex.... Well, he doesn't have the best reputation around here. He gets in trouble and starts fights a lot."

*Is he... worried about me?*

"So, just be careful when your around him, alright?"

It took me a moment to speak. "Yeah, okay."

He smiled and I must've been lost in la-la land when he moved closer to me.

I didn't realize how close he was until a familiar, whining voice appeared.

"Dialla!!" It was my younger brother, Dan.

I groaned and turned around and sure enough Dan was running at me. Dan looked a lot like me but he had my mother's emerald green eyes while I had my father's brown eyes.

"What is it?" I questioned.

"I need you to see Iron Man with me tonight!" he demanded.

"Why?"

"Because, it's PG-13 and Mom and Dad are going out tonight and said you had to take me." Dan noticed Ulrich and gave him a strange look. "Who's this? Your boyfriend?"

My face burned and I hated having a little brother for the moment.

"N-No, of course not! We're just friends. Dan, this is Ulrich Stern. Ulrich, this is, unfortunately, my little brother Dan."

"Nice to meet you," Ulrich said.

Dan ignored him. "Oh, and Mom and Dad want you to stay over at the house for tonight and they can drive you to school tomorrow. See you at 7!" Then, as quickly as he appeared, he ran off.

I sighed.

"You don't like Iron Man?" Ulrich guessed.

"No, I do," I said. "I just **hate **seeing movies with my little brother. He never shuts up during a movie! Plus, knowing him, he probably invited a friend and 'forgot' to tell me, so that'll be even _more_ annoying."

I looked at Ulrich. "Would you like to come?"

"Huh? Well, uh, sure. Why not?"

"Thanks, Ulrich," I said. "That means a lot."

Suddenly, the bell rang for lunch and I grinned.

"Finally! I'm starving!" I cheered. "Let's go!"

My stomach rumbling, I rushed my way to the cafeteria, Ulrich followed me.

After lunch, the school day went by fast and I walked to my house which was about a ten minute walk, not that I minded. A gentle, warm but slightly chilly breeze blew as I walked, signaling that autumn was arriving. Already, leaves were beginning to change from green to shades of red, orange and yellow. Leaves blew off trees and scattered across the street and sidewalk. Across the street, I saw little kid jumping into piles of leaves, laughing jovially. I couldn't help but smile at the scene.

I arrived at my house, grabbing a small bag of chips before taking a shower. The hot water poured down my body, cleansing my brown hair of the strawberry-scented shampoo I have. After I finished, I turned the shower and wrapped a towel around my self. Humming slightly to myself, I changed into a gray camisole and blue jeans. Then I tied my hair in a neat bun and at 6:45, the door bell rang.

"Dialla!" Dan hollered. "You boyfriend's here!"

"He's not my-" I began hotly, then ignored it. "I'll be right down!"

I put on silvery gray sandals and walked down the stairs. Ulrich was in the door way, dressed in his same attire, but this time he had on a black jacket, probably because he was cold.

And sure enough, Dan's best friend Ricky Heckbert, who had a major crush on me, was also in the kitchen.

I narrowed my eyes at Dan. "Why's he here?"

"Oh yeah! I forgot to tell you that Ricky's coming," he said.

"Hi, Dialla!" Ricky said.

I sighed. "Alright, let's go,"

We left my house and Dan and Ricky walked a few feet in front of us while Ulrich and I chatted behind them.

"So," Ulrich said lowly, so that Dan and Ricky wouldn't hear. "Did you enjoy your first trip to Lyoko?"

I nodded. "Yeah, althought it'll take me a while to get used to going into the past. Doesn't it get kinda annoying?"

"It does, but it can also help you fix any mistakes you made earlier," he said.

"Great, so you get an advantage,"

"Yeah,"

"That's cool,"

We got to the theatre right when the preview ended. The movie was about two hours long. I found out later that Ricky was sleeping over, which I knew would be a pain. I made sure that Ricky and Dan got inside before turning to Ulrich.

"Thanks for coming," I said. "Now, you better hurry if you don't want Jim to freak out on you."

He laughed. "Yeah. See you tomorrow,"

He leaned forward a little, hesitated then turned and ran off, disappearing in the darkness.


	5. Sacrifices and Admitting the Truth

The next morning, my parents drove me to school. Once they dropped me off, I hurried to breakfast. I got an omlet, toast and some OJ before sitting with my friends.

"Good morning, guys," I said.

"Morning," They replied.

"So, you think you can materialize Aelita?" Yumi questioned.

"Possibly, but I need a few more pieces of data, first," Jeremy replied.

"Great, so once that happens we can shut down the supercomputer and its bye bye XANA!" Odd said.

Once Odd said that, my head started to throb painfully. I tried to ignore it but the pain increased. Groaning softly, I held my head.

"Are you alright, Dialla?" Yumi asked

"Yeah, just a headache," I replied. "I'll be fine."

"Maybe we should take you to the infirmary," Jeremy suggested.

"Again," Ulrich added, smirking.

I smirked as well and the bell rang. "I'll be fine. Don't worry."

We arrived at the track for more exercises and I realized what a flirt Alex could be. He was leaning against the fence next to me while I was drinking some water. As he flirted with me, I remembered what Ulrich had said about him, so I wasn't paying attention when he asked me out.

"So? What do you say?" he asked.

I blinked, snapping out of my daze. "Huh? Sorry, what was it?"

I thought he would've been irritated that I hadn't been paying attention. But instead, he smiled and chuckled lightly.

"I said, would you like to see a movie sometime? Maybe this weekend?" he said.

"Oh." Was all I could think of to say. "Well, uh, what movie?"

"Not sure. I'll have to look," he said. "I'll call you later, okay?"

"Okay,"

Then Jim abruptly called him over to race against Ulrich and Odd. Ulrich and Alex were neck-and-neck, Odd slightly tailing them. In the end, Ulrich won, but only by an inch. Nonetheless, I congratulated all three of them. After class, Alex offered to walk me to Biology but Ulrich beat him to it. I said goodbye to Alex and walked to Biology with Ulrich.

"I though you were going to be careful around him?" he asked.

"I was. And I don't think he's that bad. He seems nice," I declined.

"You hardly know him," he pointed out

"So? Besides, what do you care, huh?" I asked, looking at him.

He stared back at me firmly, then huffed slightly and continued walking. I glared slightly as he walked, but soon followed him.

Mrs. Hertz rambled on about something that was probably irrelevant as I gazed out the window, watching the clouds float by, temporarily wishing I was one of them. Surprisingly, she hadn't called on me to question if I was paying attention. Instead, she chose Odd, who tried to make up an excuse, which led to the class laughing. Finally, class ended and we were on our way to lunch when Jeremy's laptop started beeping. He pulled it out of his backpack and started typing.

"Looks like XANA's launched an attack, guys," Jeremy said. "Let's head to the factory."

"I'll tell Yumi," Ulrich said and dialled her number.

While he explained everything, I remembered I left my phone in my room to charge.

"I'll be right back," I said, heading to my room. "I need to get my phone. I'll meet you at the factory."

They nodded and ran into the woods while I ran up the stairs to my room. I quickly grabbed my phone and when I opened the door, I got smacked back, crashing into my chair and desk.

"Ooh, man that hurt," I looked up at my enemy and saw that it was Nicholas. He raised his hand at me and purple streams of electricity flew out of his hand and shocked me. I cried out in pain for a moment, but the pain stopped suddenly.

Nicholas had disappeared from the doorway and I saw Yumi standing there.

"Are you alright?" she asked, concerned while I struggled to get up.

She helped me up and we ran as fast as our legs would carry us to the factory. Nicholas wasn't that far behind us but by the time he caught up with us, we were already safely in the elevator. We quickly got into the elevator and began to descend into the computer room. I leaned against the wall, panting.

"Thanks for saving me," I said, breaking the awkward silence between us.

"No problem," she replied.

We got to the computer room and Jeremy was already at the computer.

"Sorry we're late," I explained. "XANA possessed Nicholas, who isn't to far behind us."

"Get to the scanners," Jeremy said. "You're off to the forest region and Odd and Ulrich need your help."

We nodded and took the elevator. We got to the scanner room and stepped into a scanner.

"_Virtualization!"_

Yumi and I were materialized into the forest section and this time I landed on my feet and one hand. In front of us, was Ulrich, battling two krabes, and Odd battling five kankrelats. Yumi whipped out her fans and went to help Ulrich while I helped out Odd, taking out three of them with my gun. I got shot in the chest and my right shoulder by them and I hit the ground, wincing slightly. Odd took them out and I got to my feet.

"You have 80 life points left, Dialla," Jeremy told me.

"Alright, let's get Aelita to the tower," Ulrich ordered.

Aelita peered behind a tree. "Hello."

"The tower's this way," she added and ran off.

We followed her and beams came from behind us. Odd got hit a couple of times and soon got devirtualized.

"Odd!" I cried and glared at the three kankrelats behind us.

I whipped out my boomerang and launched it at them. It destroyed one of them and two of them shot me. I got hit in the leg by one beam but the other one hit Ulrich. Up ahead, Yumi was dealing with a megatank. The megatank fired and was about to hit Aelita, who was heading to the tower, but Yumi shoved it out of the way. The beam missed Aelita by inches and the megatank fell though a giant gap that separated Yumi from Aelita. Unfortunately, Yumi was now hanging on the edge of the gap.

"Dialla!" Jeremy cried. "You've got to get to Yumi! If she falls, she'll be devirtualized forever!"

"What?!" I yelped then ran towards her.

She had just lost her grip when I reached her. I grabbed her hand and saved her.

"Guess we're even now, huh?" I said, smiling.

She smiled back and suddenly I got shot in the back. I gasped as I fell but I managed to grab the edge with my other hand.

"Okay, this is bad," I muttered. "Ulrich!"

"Hang on," he yelled. "I'm coming!"

But I lost my grip and he missed us by a second.

"No!!" cried Ulrich.

As we fell, an idea popped into my head. Tightening my grip on Yumi's hand, I threw her up with all my strength. Fortunately, she flew straight up and Ulrich caught her. However, I still plunged into the digital sea.

"Dialla!!!!"

Ulrich's POV

Yumi and I watched in agony as Dialla fell into the digital sea, disappearing forever. Aelita deactivated the tower and Jeremy launched a return to the past. We stood at the factory, mourning her loss.

"It's all my fault," I said grimly. "If I'd been faster, she'd still be here,"

"There's one solution and Jeremy knows it," Aelita said.

"The materlization program!" Jeremy said.

"You finished it?" Yumi questioned.

"With Odd's help," Jeremy answered. "Yes."

"Can it bring Dialla back?" I asked urgently.

"Yes, but it's good for only one person. One and only one," Jeremy said.

We all fell silent, debating on who we should choose: Aelita or Dialla.

"Then choose Dialla," Aelita said. "She's already part of your world. Don't worry, I can wait a little longer."

"Alright," Jeremy said after a moment. "I'll launch the program."

He started typing on the computer. In a few minutes, he announced that he was finished and we headed to the scanner room. The far right scanner opened and Dialla stood there for a moment before falling forward. Odd and I caught her and steadied her.

"It's okay, D," Odd assurred her. "We got you."

"I-I'm back?" she mumbled, confused. "How? I thought I got devirtualized forever by falling into the digital sea."

"Aelita sacrificed her materlization program to bring you back," Jeremy explained.

"Really? I've got to thank her."

"Speaking of thanks, I owe you one, Dialla," Yumi said. "Thank you for saving me."

She smiled. "No problem."

Dialla's POV

Weeks passed and XANA continues to attack us. It's starting to become a pain, but fun at the same time. According to Jeremy, with each return to the past, XANA gets stronger. I don't think it's a big deal, but apparently it is. Each time I go to Lyoko, though, I get a strange feeling. Like, I've been there before.

We were eating lunch when Jeremy announced that he had finished the materialization program.

"So we can materlize Aelita?" Odd asked.

"Yes," Jeremy answered. "And finally shut down the super computer. We'll head to the factory after lunch."

We agreed and lunch flew by and we quickly got to the factory. Jeremy virtualized us into the forest sector of Lyoko and I landed swiftly on my feet and one hand. I noticed a blue gem had appeared on my left hand.

"Yo, Einstein. What's with the gem?" I asked.

"That's your sheild. It can generate from your hand at your will," he explained.

A large blue sheild with red in the middle appeared from my wrist and was projected so it covered the same length as a regular sheild would.

"Heads up, guys. Bloks at twelve o' clock,"

"Looks like XANA's not gonna go down without a fight," Odd said.

We found Aelita hiding behind a tree and Jeremy said he was starting up the program.

"Oh no!" he cried.

"What's the matter?" I asked.

"I got the wrong CD. It's one of Odd's dumb video's," he explained. "I've got to go back to my room and get it."

"Alright, hurry," Yumi said.

We quickly got rid of the bloks and Aelita got into the tower safely. We all stood on the platform of the tower, waiting for Jeremy.

"Where is he?" Aelita wondered aloud. "I'm getting worried."

"I'm sure he's fine," I assured her.

Suddenly, the tower shook and we all stumbled.

"What the heck was that?!" Odd exclaimed.

We emerged from the tower and saw a mega tank, preparing to fire again. We quickly got out of the way, but the beam struck the tower.

"We've got to protect the tower until Jeremy gets back!" Ulrich ordered. "Let's take this thing out quickly!"

We charged head on at the bowling ball monster.

Jeremy's POV

I sat in the infirmary, sulking, my right leg bandaged. Jim had caught me sneaking out of my room and chased me. Unfortunately, I tripped down the stairs and sprained my ankle.

*I need to get back to the factory!*

"Can I go to the bathroom?" I asked.

"No, I'll get you a bucket," Ms. Perraudin said and left the room.

I crossed my arms over my chest, frowning, when the door opened and Jim came in.

"Listen, Jeremy, I wanted to say I'm sorry. I was so sure you guys were up to something, but I guess I got carried away a little," He walked over to the window, his hands folded behind his back. "I deserve to get fired. I went a little crazy because I thought you and your friends had a lot of secrets that you were hiding."

He started to walk out of the room. "I'm gonna miss you guys."

"Hold on a second, Jim," I said. "You're, um, not as crazy as you think,"

"Huh?"

"My friends and I, we do have a secret," I admitted

He turned at me. "Then that means I was right after all! Well, what is it?"

"Look, Jim, if you help me, I'll tell the principal everything. You'll be off the hook and he's bound to give you your job back.

"Great!" he said, extending his hand. "Shake on it."

I smiled slightly and shook his hand.

With me on his back, Jim ran quickly through the woods. I showed him where the sewer was and started explaining everything about Lyoko. By the time we reached the elevator, I had pretty much explained everything.

"Here we are," I said as the doors opened to the computer room.

"Whoa," he said appalled. "Well, whaddya know? I was right! Ha ha!"

I sat down in the computer. "Aelita? Do you read me?"

"Jeremy! Oh thank goodness! What happened?" Aelita responded.

"It's a long story. Too long, but I've got the program and I'm starting it now," I explained and put in the CD. "Let's hope it works."

Dialla's POV

The megatank fired again, missing the tower, and I rolled out of the way and threw my boomerang. The megatank shut and my boomerang was deflected off and disappeared. Yumi and Odd ran at it and the megatank fired, devirtualizing Yumi. Odd fired his laser arrows at it but the megatank shut. Odd leaped into the air, landed on the back of the megatank and was about to take it out, but it fired and devirtualized him.

"Odd!" I cried and fired my gun at it.

It fired again, destroying my bullets and devirtulizing me as well. I appeared in a scanner, exhausted, gasping for breath, using the inside to hold me up. I stumbled out and made my way to the elevator with Odd and Yumi. We got to the computer room, we were surprised to see Jim there.

"Jim?!" We cried appalled.

"Yeah, he's one of the gang, now," Jeremy explained.

We still stared at him, out mouths agape. When we recovered, Ulrich had taken out the megatank, but another one had shown up and fired and the tower. Ulrich used his sword to try and deflect the beam.

"Hang on, Ulrich. Just a few more seconds," Jeremy said. "Aelita get into position on the platform."

She did so and Jeremy initiated the program just as Ulrich got devirtualized. Once he finished we all went to the scanner room. Yumi and I helped Ulrich stand since he was exhausted. One of the scanners opened and Aelita appeared, curled into a ball.

"Aelita!" we exclaimed.

"She's here at last," Jeremy said. "Welcome to earth!"


	6. Sneaking out to the Movies! XD

After we celebrated Aelita being here, Jeremy suggested that we shut down XANA immediately. We all agreed and headed to the supercomputer's power source.

"Well, XANA, you've caused us some trouble, but you also brought us together. Adios!" Jeremy said.

Once he flipped the switch, the headache I had earlier came back, only much worse. To make matters worse, Aelita fainted and I sunk to my knees, holding my head.

"Turn back on!" Yumi cried. "Hurry! Aelita and Dialla aren't well!"

Jeremy turned the supercomputer back on and I fell onto my side, slipping into the darkness.

I awoke God knows how long later in a long chair in the factory. Outside, the sky was dark and like an ocean of stars. It was probably eight or nine, passed curfew either way. In the seat next to me was Aelita, just as dazed and disoriented as I was. Jim was seated in a chair next to Aelita, while the rest of the gang stood around us.

"Good, you're both okay," Ulrich stated.

"I hope you don't mind," Jeremy said. "But I ran a scan on both of you while you were unconscious."

"Did you find anything?" I inquired.

"There's some kind of virus inside Aelita. I guess XANA planted it in you when you were being materlizied. As for you, Dialla, I didn't find anything unusual."

"Then how come I passed out?"

"We were hoping you could tell us," he said. "Did you get hurt at all?"

"Well, I had a headache, but that's all," I told him.

"Do you think XANA could've done anything?" Yumi asked. "Maybe something that you couldn't pick up."

"I'm not sure. But, in any case, we can't shut down the supercomputer until we get rid of the virus and find out what's wrong with Dialla," Jeremy concluded.

"Great," I muttered, climbing out of my chair. "What time is it?"

"About nine-thirty," Jeremy said.

"We should get back to our rooms," I suggested, yawning. "I probably just need some rest."

"Yumi, your parents allowed Aelita to stay with you, right? Odd questioned.

"Yep. So, you'll be staying with me for a few days, Aelita," Yumi said.

"I still can't believe I'm finally here on Earth," she said blissfully.

Jim decided to stay at the factory for protection; it wasn't necessary, but none of us argued. Yumi walked Aelita home while Ulrich, Odd, Jeremy and I headed back to the school.

I said good bye to them then sneaked away into my bed. I quickly changed and climbed into my bed, bleariness consuming me. But at the same time, I was perplexed.

*Why had that happened? Jeremy said there was nothing wrong with me, so how could I've fainted like that? And the headaches seem to be getting worse.*

I rolled onto my side, shutting my eyes.

*Oh screw it.*

~Dream~

I was in some kind of house, wandering aimlessly, when someone called my name. Apparently, I recognized the voice because I ran quickly to where the voice was. I skipped down a flight of stairs and appeared in the computer room of the factory. There I saw my brother, Dan, and a man with brown hair and brown eyes. As I studied the man I recognized the eyes. My eyes.

*What?! Those are my eyes! But.... how?!*

The man, who was wearing a white lab coat and brown pants, led us to the scanner room, where we met another man with gray hair and a beard and mustache. He had glasses and was wearing a red shirt, black pants and a white lab coat. Next to him, was his daughter, with pink hair.

*Aelita? What the heck is going on?*

"Shall we get started, Franz?" the man next to me asked.

"Yes, we shall go first, then you follow us,"

"Alright,"

The man and Aelita stepped into the scanners and they shut. After a few moments, they opened again and we stepped in.

Dan and I appeared on Lyoko, but Aelita and the two men were no where to be seen. To make matters worse, we were both possessed by XANA.

~End dream~

Shrieking slightly, I jerked up and nearly fell out of my bed. I quickly composed myself, and sat upwright in my bed, trying to catch my breath. Glancing at my clock, I saw that it was four in the morning, not that it mattered. Outside, the sky was a pinkish color and utterly beautiful. I could tell the sun was going to rise soon. I finally managed to calm down a little and I shook my head vigorously.

"A dream, that's all," I told myself. "Just a dream."

Yet, no matter how many times I said that, I couldn't fall back asleep. So, for the whole day, I had to struggle to stay awake. Aelita had come to school with Yumi today and she was to be Odd's cousin from Canada. After History, there was a little break and we sat on the bench.

"So, how's our little earthling doing?" Yumi asked when she came over.

"Fine, I'm trying to adapt to all the new things. The air, the colors, it's so wonderful," Aelita replied.

"And, I guess you like sleeping a lot too," Yumi added. "You would've slept all day if I didn't shake you a little," They both laughed.

"Don't worry, sleeping in class is always great, too," Odd said.

"You would know," Ulrich added jokingly.

And so would I because in Science, I was so weary that I ended up falling asleep. When you have a teacher like Mrs. Hertz, you do **not** want to get caught falling asleep. I found out the hard way.

"Two hours of detention, Miss Reinhart," she scolded after rudely smacking my desk in order to wake me up. When I opened my mouth to explain, she added, "And if you complain, I'll make it four hours."

Not wanting to get in any more trouble, I shut my mouth, biting hard on my tongue so that I wouldn't say some words that would most likely get me expelled from this place. I heard snickers, knowing Sissi had a smug look on her face.

As she continued teaching, suddenly there was a scream from outside the class room. It sounded like a sixth grader. A couple of kids, including Ulrich and Odd, stood up concerned.

"Settle down, children," Mrs. Hertz said as she opened the door.

The class crowded, pushing and shoving one another to get a glimpse of what was going on. Well, except for me. I was resting my chin on my hand, asleep. A boy came running from outside, screaming at the top of his lungs. He ran down the hall and disappeared. Following him, was a kankrelat.

"Get back!" Ulrich ordered as he managed to shove back the whole class and shut the door.

"Take cover!" Odd cried.

As the class hid, Ulrich walked over to me and smacked my arm that was holding me up. My head hit the desk and I jerked up, startled.

"What? What happened?" I mumbled, dazed.

"Looks like XANA's using a different tactic. He brought kankrelats to Earth this time. But how?" Jeremy wondered.

"Who cares how? The real question is how do we get rid of them?" Odd questioned.

"Like we always do we fight them. You three get to the factory. Yumi, Dialla and I will stay here and defend the school," Ulrich commanded.

Once I heard XANA I instantly snapped out of my sleepy daze. Sort of, at least. I climbed out of my desk and stood next to Ulrich, who was calling Yumi.

"No, you can't," Aelita said. "That's crazy."

"You know very well that if there is a victim, that a return to the past won't bring it back to life," Ulrich said. "Yumi, yeah, we know. We need to find weapons. Okay, I'll meet you outside the math class."

"Alright, let's go," Jeremy said.

We opened the door, cautiously. Another student ran down the hall and we stepped out of the room, shutting the door behind us. A kankrelat had appeared and Ulrich and I got in our fighting stances.

"Go on," Ulrich said. "We'll take care of it."

While they headed to the factory Ulrich and I rushed the small cockroach.

"I've always wanted to do this," I said and, while Ulrich leaped over the monster, I kicked it as hard as I could. The kankrelat flew and smashed into a wall.

"That worked well," Ulrich said.

I smiled and got shot in the left shoulder. I yelped, staggering a little bit and Ulrich grabbed my hand.

"This way!" he cried and led me down a flight of stairs.

I followed him, but once we got down, more appeared. As we ran, trying to find a safe place or a weapon - mostly a weapon - a large rod was thrown towards us. We ducked and it pierced a kankrelat behind us. The person who threw it was Yumi.

"Nice shot," I commented.

"What would you do without me?" she said smiling. Her eyes widened slightly as more approached. "Run!"

We managed to slip away into the shed. There were a lot of tools that could be used.

"Let's see..." I mused, scanning the items. "Ah! This should work!"

I found a nail gun and looked at Yumi and Ulrich. Yumi had an ax and Ulrich had a chainsaw.

"Let's do it," I said.

We stepped out of the shed and made our way to the factory, destroying as many kankrelats as we could. The worse that happened was I got shot in the right leg, Ulrich got shot the back and Yumi got shot in the left leg. But, other than that, we were fine. When we got to the factory, I assumed Jim must've had fun with the first couple of kankrelats, since they were scattered across the room. He also nearly scared the crap out of me when he popped out at us.

"Jim!" I cried annoyed.

"Sorry, Dialla," he apologized. "I thought you were one of those roaches."

I sighed and forgave him. "Are you heading to the school?"

"Yeah, I'm gonna do what I can there,"

"Then take this," I handed him the gun. "You'll need it more than me."

He nodded and headed to the academy. We quickly went in the elevator, told Jeremy we were here and headed to the scanners.

"You're heading to the polar region," Jeremy informed us.

He virtualized us and we all landed on our feet on a narrow strip of ice which grew wider as it led us to the activated tower.

"The activated tower is 45° north. You better hurry, Odd and Aelita are facing a swarm of hornets,"

"Right," Ulrich said and we took off.

There were four of them when we showed up an according to Jeremy, Odd had 20 life points left. Aelita had took off for the tower.

Yumi threw her fans, taking out two of them and I threw my boomerang, taking out one. The last one shot Odd and devirtualized him. I avenged him by destroying it with my gun. We caught up with Aelita who was in an ice cave. We escorted her safely to the tower, which she deactivated. Jeremy activated the return to the past, erasing everyone's memory including Jim's.

So, I was back in Science, getting scolded by Mrs. Hertz.

"Two hours of detention, Miss Reinhart," she said. "And if you complain-"

I cut her off. "Yeah, I know. Four hours."

She became befuddled. "Wha- how did you know I was going to say that?"

I flinched. "Uh, Deja Vu?" It was more of a question than an answer.

She eyed me suspiciously before continuing her lesson. As she did, my phone vibrated, signalling that I received a text message. I pulled it out surreptitiously and read the message. To my surprise, it was from Alex.

"Hey, D," It read. "You up for a movie?"

I smiled slightly. "Can't. I've got detention." I replied.

He sent me a surprised smiley. "Ooohh, never knew you were so bad! I like that. Alright then I'll take you out later, you bad girl."

I giggled softly and quickly responded before I got caught. Once school ended, I was to go directly to the art room for detention with Jim. When I got there, Jim started blabbing about how I shouldn't be fooling around and how I should be trying to get an education. I didn't pay attention at all. After about forty-five minutes, Jim soon fell asleep,snoring loudly. While I tried to ignore him, there was a tapping on the window next to me. I looked up and saw that it was Alex. I gasped softly and nearly fell out of my seat in shock.

He smiled zealously as he gestured for me to come outside. I looked over at Jim, who was in a deep slumber, then silently crept outside.

"What is it?" I asked, worried that Jim could wake at any moment and get us both in trouble.

"I'm taking you to the movies," he said. "I told you I would."

"Well, yeah, but I thought you meant after my detention!"

"We wouldn't have enough time to get back after curfew if we went after your detention."

"What about Jim? He's bound to notice."

"He always sleeps during detentions."

"But, if we get caught-"

"I promise you we won't. And if we do, I'll make up an excuse so you don't get in trouble."

I stared at him long and hard for a moment. "You... really want to take me on a date?"

He nodded. "Yes. I do."

I couldn't help but smile. "Oh, alright."

He beamed like a little kid on Christmas. "Really? Alright! You're gonna love it! Let's go!"

He grabbed my hand and took off. I kept up with him, laughing all the way to the theatre.

It was about six-thirty when we were sneaking back to school. The movie was pretty scary, but somehow, being with Alex made me feel safer. We were almost at my dorm when we heard Jim bellowing my name.

"Reinhart! Rider!" he hollered.

We froze and I mentally scolded myself for going with Alex. Jim approached us and I quickly tried to think of an excuse for skipping detention.

"What do you two think your doing?" he demanded.

"I, uh, well..." I stammered.

"I snuck out without permission, sir," Alex lied smoothly. "Dialla saw me and was trying to stop me but I wouldn't listen."

Jim looked at him skeptically.

"It's true," he continued as I stared at him in shock. "She saw me leave after she left detention and tried to stop me."

"I didn't see her leave detention," Jim stated.

"You were asleep, sir," I said quickly. "I thought it would be rude if I woke you, so I didn't."

Jim studied us carefully and I felt nervous sweat drip down my forehead.

"Please, sir," Alex feigned begging. "It's not her fault. Blame me."

After a moment, Jim spoke. "Four hours of detention, Rider. And let that be a lesson to you not to leave campus without permisson."

"Yes, sir. I understand." he replied.

The minute Jim was out sight, I turned to Alex, my mouth agape.

"How--?"

"I'm pretty good when it comes to lying," he said simply. "Heck, if there was a class for lying, I'd probably be the teacher."

I laughed at that. "Yeah, probably." I smiled at him. "Thank you for covering for me, but now you have to do _four_ _hours_ of detention! Two hours is bad enough."

He shrugged nonchalantly. "It's no big deal. I've been through worse. Besides--" He leaned in and gave me a kiss on the cheek, causing me to blush. "-- It was all worth it."

Then, turning swiftly on his heel, he disappeared to his room. I watched him walk off and stayed there for a moment, gently caressing my right cheek. I finally snapped out of my daze when my clock beeped, telling me it was seven and time for dinner.


	7. Happy Birthday to

During dinner, while I was happily munching on my chicken patty, Jeremy said that Aelita can stay on Earth instead of going to Lyoko to check for towers.

"I've created a new system," he explained. "that instantly detects activated towers. So now you can stay at campus with us."

"Oh that's wonderful!" Aelita exclaimed. "I can't believe it!"

"And, I'm working on a program that should help us fight XANA better," Jeremy said.

"Wow, how do you even know all this stuff?" Odd asked, wolfing down his burger.

"Because, unlike you, I don't fall asleep in class and I study." he quipped.

I snickered. "That's true."

"You should talk. Who was it who fell asleep in Science?" Ulrich said.

I blushed. "Well, I couldn't sleep that well last night. Gimme a break."

Everyone in my circle of friends, including me, laughed slightly.

"So, how was detention? Did Jim bore you to death with his lecture?" Odd questioned.

"Yeah, but right after, he fell asleep. It was pretty funny. But he snores way to loud," I said, wrinkling my nose in annoyance.

After dinner, Yumi left for her house and we stopped by Aelita's room and it was pretty nice. Once we helped her settle in, we all said good night and headed our separate ways. I snuggled into my bed and quickly fell asleep. However, instead of dreaming about Lyoko, I dreamed about Ulrich and Alex. Well, it wasn't exactly a dream. More like continuous flashbacks with them. It switched back and forth from Ulrich to Alex. It was as if my subconscious wanted me to decided who to choose. I awoke from the bizarre dream, blinked several times, shook my head and fell into a dreamless sleep for the rest of the night.

A few mornings later, Sissi decided to take an extra long shower, draining the hot water and creating a long line of all the girls. I didn't notice Aelita until I saw her suddenly heading her way upstairs. I looked behind me and assumed Sissi told her to go up to the boys' shower as a prank. Before she could get any farther, I managed to grab her arm and stop her without giving up my spot in line.

"Where are you going?" I asked.

"Sissi said there were more showers upstairs," Aelita told me.

"No - Well there are but don't listen to her. The showers upstairs are for the boys. She was trying to trick you." I glared at Sissi as I spoke. "Don't listen to her. She's a real jerk. She acts like she's _soo_ perfect when she's really not."

I pulled her so she stood in front of me. "As long as you stay with me or Yumi, or the others, you'll be fine." I said.

She smiled and thanked me. After our showers, we met the boys and Yumi at breakfast. Aelita brought up the shower incident, and they pretty much said what I did. I noticed they were acting kind of strange, but didn't question it. Soon breakfast ended and school offically began.

* * *

As I made my way to the track alone, the boys and Aelita said they had something to take care of and would meet me there, two hands wrapped around my waist. Not in an attacking way, more like a playful way.

"Good morning,

"Good morning. Well, this is different. What's the occasion?"

"It's your birthday today, isn't it,"Alex replied matter-of-factly.

I stared at him surprised. "How'd you know?"

"I know a lot of things," He said slyly, shrugging his shoulders. "Anyway, I got you something."

He reached into his jean pocket and pulled out a small box. Inside was a sterling sliver bracelet with dozens of little hearts, flowers and other girly items.

I wasn't really into girly items, but I was a sucker for jewlery and it was beautiful and free! And who wouldn't say yes to a free gift!

"Oh, wow, Alex!" I gasped in awe. "It's beautiful! This must've cost you a fortune!"

"Eh, just my allowance," he said, fastening it to my left wrist.

I played with the hearts and flowers as we walked to the gym for Phys. Ed. I went into the locker room to change and Sissi was leaning against a locker, a smug look on her face as usual.

I ignored her and quickly changed into my gym clothes.

"It seems your getting quite comfortable with Rider, huh," she sneered.

I stopped and turned to her. "We're friends. Something you wouldn't know about."

Her cheeks flushed pink in anger for a moment but she composed herself. "There's a fall dance coming up in a few weeks. Are you going to go with him?"

I hadn't know anything about a dance, nor did I care. So, instead of answering her, I walked out of the locker room.

* * *

For once, I was really excited for Phys. Ed specifically because of what we were playing.

"Dodge ball is as simple game, really," Jim explained the rules. "If you get hit with a ball anywhere below your head, you are out, unless the ball flys into the air and your teammate catches it. If you throw a ball and a person on the other team catches it, the thrower is out. If a person catches a ball then drops it, he is out. The last person standing wins or the team with the most people when the time is up wins."

He severed the class equally into two and I realized Jeremy wasn't here.

"Hey, where is Jeremy?" I whispered to Odd.

"Einstein is at the factory working on some new program for Aelita's virus," he told me. "Plus, he hates dodge ball."

Lucky for me, Sissi was on the other team and for the whole game, every ball I threw would always nail her directly in the stomach. Each time she would win and complain, earning a smirk on my face. At one point during the game, the only two people standing, were me and Alex.

In the crowd, people chanted both mine and his name. I waited patiently for Alex to attack, but to my surprise he casually threw the ball at me. I only had an instant to decided whether to catch it or let it hit me.

So, I caught it.

Jim blew his whistle and declared that he was out. He gave me a short wave before walking off the court. As I watched him walk away, Ulrich, Odd and a bunch of other kids congratulated me. I thanked them and went to get a 'drink'. And by 'drink', I meant go talk to Alex.

"Nice job out there," he complimented. "You've got a great arm."

"Why did you let me win?" I demanded.

"What? Can't a guy do a nice thing for someone on their birthday?"

"Well, yeah, but I wanted to win fair and square,"

"Oh. Sorry, I didn't know."

I frowned at him for a moment, then smiled and sat down next to him.

Once Phys. Ed ended, I said good bye to Alex and headed to my next class.

"Einstein called," Odd informed me. "He wants us to head to the factory at lunch. Apparently he finished what ever he was working on."

"Alright."

Our next classes flew by fast and Aelita was getting used to the school little by little. We all continued to help her adapt. Soon it was lunch and we headed to the factory. We got Aelita a scooter so she could ride to the factory like the rest of us. We arrived at the computer lab and Jeremy told us to head to Lyoko. We did and he transfered Yumi, Aelita and I first, then Odd and Ulrich. We all appeared in the desert sector.

"What's going on, Jeremy?" Aelita inquired.

"I created vehicles for you to use on Lyoko," he explained. "Here they come, try them out."

A one-wheeled motorcycle, two hover skateboards and a hover scooter appeared.

"These are the Overbike, the Overboards and the Overwing," Jeremy said. "Your new vehicles. Take them for a test spin."

"Gladly!" I said, hopping on one of the Overboards. I didn't like the fact that it was pink, but I ignored it for the time being. "Odd! Ulrich! I'll race you!"

"You're on!" they replied and climbed on their vehicles.

Ulrich took the Overbike while Odd took the other Overboard. Yumi climbed on the Overwing and Aelita climbed on with her. They took off somewhere and Odd, Ulrich and I began our race. 1st place varied between us. For a while it was Ulrich, then it would switch to me, then Odd, then back to Ulrich and go in an entire circle. I was in the lead for a while and was about to win the race when a stray red beam hit my Overboard. The Overboard devirtualized and I fell, shrieking in surprise. Luckily, Odd swooped in and saved me.

"Thanks," I breathed.

"No problem," Odd said.

He landed on the ground and I got off. I scanned the area but no monster was in sight.

"Jeremy, what was that?"

"I don't know. There's a monster approaching. Strange. I don't recognize it," he replied.

In the distance we could see a strange creature approaching us. The creature resembled a giant semi-organic spider with four jointed legs and six small red eyes on the tip of its head where the Eye of XANA was located.

"XANA must have just created it," Aelita said.

"Guys, be careful!" Jeremy warned us. "This thing has higher life points than the other creatures."

The strange creature got up on its hind legs, it's front legs aiming at us. Aelita ran for cover and we prepared ourselves. The spider began shooting at us and Ulrich started deflecting the beams as we scattered around it. I fired off a few shots at it, but my bullets merely bounced off. The creature turned its attention towards me and started firing.

I performed a few cartwheels, dodging a few beams but got hit in the chest. I slid on the ground, groaning slightly.

"You just lost twenty life points, Dialla," Jeremy told me. "What a powerful laser."

I quickly got back on my feet and grabbed my boomerang and threw it at it. At the same time, Yumi threw her fans. The arachnid aimed its legs at our weapons and fired. It's aim was incredibly accurate as it deflected our weapons. The creature fired at me and I was struck again in the chest and got devirtualized. Aelita quickly got into a tower and Jeremy rematerialized her. Soon after, the rest of the Lyoko Warriors got devirutlaized by the strange creature.

"What was that thing? It was like a Trantula!" Odd exclaimed.

"Looks like we found a name for it," Yumi commented.

"Yeah," Jeremy agreed.

"Hey, Jeremy," I said. "Do you think there is anyway you can improve my gun? My bullets didn't do anything against the Trantula."

"I can try but I can't really promise anything," he replied.

"Thanks,"

"Alright can we go to lunch now?" Odd whined. "I'm starving!"

"You're a walking stomach, Odd," Jeremy quipped.

"And you're a walking brain," Odd replied. "See? We compliment each other."

I smiled and walked back to the school with the gang.

* * *

During free period, I was sitting on my bed, studying my History book. There was a major test coming up and my grade in History was slipping. There was a knock on my door and I answered it and found Dan standing in front of me. I reigned over him by a foot or so.

"What is it?" I asked.

"Mom and Dad want you to come home around six so we can celebrate your birthday," he answered.

"I thought they were going to a meeting."

"They rescheduled the meeting."

"That's a first."

"So, you'll be there at six?"

"Yeah, sure. Goodbye."

I shut the door and went back to my studying.

Odd's POV

I was hanging out with Ulrich and Yumi at the vending machine, sipping some soda when Dialla's little brother came up to us. Jeremy and Aelita were at the factory working on Lyoko.

"She'll be there," he informed us.

"Alright," Ulrich said. "Thanks."

"Why is it so important she be there anyway?" he questioned.

"We're planning a surprise party for her since it's her birthday," Yumi responded.

"Ooh. Okay," he said and walked off.

"That sure was nice of Dan to do that," I commented.

"Yeah, anyway, let's head to her house," Ulrich ordered. "Yumi, do you have the things?"

She held out a plastic bag. "Yep. The cake is at my house."

"I'll call Einstein and tell them to meet us at D's house," I suggested and dialled his number.

I explained everything to him and he agreed to meet us at Dialla's house at 5:30. Then we headed to her house and began setting things up.

* * *

Dialla's POV

Time flew by and it was 5:50. I shut my history book and made my way to my house. It was a short walk so I arrived there at 6:00. However, when I stepped inside, all the lights were off.

"Why are all the lights off? I can't see a thing,"

A second after I said that, the lights turned on. I flinched, shut my eyes for a moment.

"Surprise!!!"

I opened my eyes in surprise to see all of my friends standing in front of me. The entire inside of my house was decorated with balloons, streamers, everything and anything that's at a birthday party. I stared at them, my mouth hanging wide open.

"Oh my... How did you...."

Anything I wanted to say never came out because two hands clamped on my shoulders.

"C'mon, Dialla," Ulrich said on my right.

"The cake is ready," Odd finished on my left.

They half led, half pushed me into the kitchen where a chocolate and vanilla cake was waiting. Written in blue frosting was HAPPY BIRTHDAY DIALLA. Fourteen candles illuminated the area around me as I thought of a wish. Then, I took a deep breath and blew them all out.

Everyone cheered and clapped and we all laughed.

We began eating and the cake was delicious. Odd kept hogging all the cake and Yumi scolded him. Once we finished, it was getting late, so we quickly cleaned the place up but decided to leave the decorations up since we're lazy. I said good bye to Yumi, thanked her for coming and quickly caught up with my friends. Odd, Jeremy and Aelita were a few yards ahead of Ulrich and I, who hung in the back. I had started walking, but Ulrich grabbed my wrist.

"Wait, I've got something for you," he said.

"Huh?"

Ulrich reached into his pocket and pulled out a package wrapped in blue paper with a red bow. I looked from him to the present and grabbed it. I opened it and in my hands I held a black box, slightly larger than the one Alex got me. I lifted the lid and the box revealed a sterling silver necklace with a saphire charm and matching earrings. I gasped and stared at Ulrich, who's cheeks were a faint pink.

"Oh, wow! They're beautiful! Thank you so much, Ulrich!" I said and, without thinking, kissed him on the cheek. I quickly stepped back, blushing slightly.

His blush deepend a little. "Uh, well, your welcome."

I shut the box and hugged him quickly.

"I love it. Thank you," I said when I released him.

"Anytime," he replied, relaxing a little.

There was a moment of awkward silence and thankfully Odd broke it by yelling at us to hurry up.

"Coming!" I called and I jogged slightly, then slowed to a walk as I caught up with them; Ulrich followed us.


	8. Love Triangle

Please review! It'd be very nice! Thank you! XD

* * *

A couple of weeks passed and XANA has been surprisingly quiet lately. According to Odd, there's a fifth sector on Lyoko. He said they discovered in when I was in Florida visiting my friends for a week. They were also thinking about adding another kid to the group. Some guy named William Dunbar, a fifteen year old kid who got kicked out of his last school for plastering love letters everywhere. Yumi was a little wary of him and I could tell Ulrich didn't like him.

"So, it's settled then," Jeremy declared. "William will be the seventh Lyoko Warrior."

"Great," Ulrich grumbled sarcastically.

"Hey, XANA is getting a lot stronger, so I think this is the best decision,"

"When are we going to show him?" questioned Aelita.

"After lunch," answered Jeremy.

We all nodded and finished out meals. Once we did, as promised, Jeremy brought William to the factory and explained everything.

"I see. So, it's like a game?" he questioned once Jeremy finished.

"Yes, but more real," he said.

"And, if you get shot, you feel it. But it's not that bad," I added.

Jeremy told William to get in the scanner so he could create a digital image of him. A moment later, the scanner popped open and William walked out.

"Well, how do you feel, William?" Odd asked.

"Ready to take on XANA and his monsters," he replied cockily.

"And you promise to keep our secret?" Yumi demanded.

"Yes," he answered firmly.

"Good answer," Ulrich said.

"So, now your immune to the return to the past, which makes you officially part of the group," Jeremy said from upstairs.

"Awesome!" William cried ecstatically.

* * *

The next day, I was in the gym, practicing my Pencak Silat, when my phone rang. I stopped and pulled my red and black cell phone out of my pocket.

"Aelita? What is it?"

"XANA's launched an attack? Can you get to the factory?"

"Yeah, I'll be right there. Is anyone else with you?"

"William is. Ulrich is stuck with his father, Yumi is babysitting her brother and Odd is at a skateboarding competition. Hurry."

"Right." I hung up and quickly got to the factory.

"Head to the scanner," Jeremy ordered, already starting up the process. "William and Aelita are waiting for you."

"Aw, how nice," I said and went into the elevator.

Jeremy virtualized us into what I assumed was the fifth sector, or Sector 5. Aelita and I landed on our feet and, to my surprise, so did William.

And even though I didn't know him very well, I loved his Lyoko outfit. He was dressed in a white and black body suit with a red belt. In his hand, was a large white sword, similar to Cloud Strife's sword from Final Fantasy (that's the only way I can think of to describe it. XD)

He examined the sword, slung it over his back than examined us. He whistled at me and my eyes twitched in annoyance.

"Not bad. You look pretty cute," he said.

I rolled my eyes. "Let's get this over with. Aelita, you've been here before. Lead the way."

"Right."

"Dialla, I managed to upgrade you gun, and you should have a sword on your back," Jeremy informed me.

My hand stretch to my back and I felt the hilt of a sword. I pulled it out and it was a long sword but pretty light. An opening appeared infront of us and Aelita took off; William and I followed her.

After running for a bit, we appeared in a large, empty room. I looked around, curiousity flowing through me. William, being as eager and annoying as ever, ran forward and one of the floor pads flew up and blocked him. On top of that, a strange noise echoed throughout the room. About a dozen or so snake-like creatures with a mechanical tail appeared.

"New monsters?" I guessed.

"Those are Creepers. There's a key we have to press to stop the traps. I'll handle the key. You guys take care of the monster," Aelita said and took off.

I decided to test out my gun. I aimed at one of them and when I fired, a green beam of light flew out of the gun and destroyed it.

"Nice work, Jeremy!" I cried as I killed off a few more.

I switched over to the sword. It was a little awkward using it suddenly, but I quickly got the hang of it. William was definitely enjoying himself, destroying three Creepers simply by spinning in a circle. Aelita activated the key, but a large wall surrounded William, separating us.

"Uh, Jeremy?" he asked. "There's a large... jellyfish thing here."

"The Scyphozoa! William! Get out of there now!" Jeremy ordered. "Aelita! Dialla! You have to get to him fast! I'll program the Overboard for you!"

He did so, and the Overboard appeared, this time purple and black, I assumed he made it for me. We climbed on and Jeremy led us quickly to William. Once we got to him, William was on the ground and the Scyphozoa was disappearing.

"You guys, I think he's been possessed by XANA!" Jeremy warned.

"Oh great," I muttered and we climbed off.

"William?" Aelita asked cautiously. "Are you alright?"

William slowly got to his feet but when he faced us, he swung his sword and a disc-shaped blast flew at us. I managed to leap out of the way, Aelita, however, wasn't so lucky. She got devirutalized, which left me alone with William.

* * *

"Uh, Jeremy?" I asked as I started backing away from him. "Please tell me Odd, Ulrich or Yumi are there and they're gonna help me."

"I just called them. They're on their way. Hang in there, Dialla."

William's evil-consumed eyes locked with mine and I aimed my gun at him. However, when I fired at him, he simply deflected the green beam. It ricocheted off the sword, and evaporated. I quickly put the gun back in the holster and, leaping into the air, I threw my boomerang at him; He deflected it again, and leapt at me. He swung his sword at me and probably would've devirtualized me if I didn't bring up my shield. But, since I brought the shield up at the last second - maybe even millisecond - when his sword contacted with my shield, the force was strong enough to send me hurtling towards the ground.

I hit the floor hard, looked up and William was coming down on me fast. I yelped slightly and quickly rolled out of the way and kicked him in his ribs. He flew forward and slid on the ground. I got up to my feet and he was running at me again. I grasped my sword, pulled it out and connected with his large one. We stayed like that for several minutes, each of us fighting for dominance. He eventually won by kicking me in the stomach hard. I flew back, losing my grip on my sword, but I managed to stay on my feet. Which was good, because he attacked me again but I was able to shield his attack.

"Jeremy!!" I cried, getting pushed back by William's attack.

"They are on Lyoko and are coming for you. Hang on just a few more seconds!"

William finally sent me flying and I hit the ground hard. He stepped on my chest with his boot, keeping me pinned to the ground. He raised his sword and brought it down fast. However, it didn't hit me. He had disappeared and in front of me was Ulrich, his sword out and ready. William was in front of him, getting up from being knocked down.

"Ulrich!" I cried overjoyed.

"Looks like we came just in time," he said.

"A few minutes earlier would've been nice," I replied.

"Dialla!" Odd and Yumi cried.

They came up behind me and helped me up.

"Are you alright?" Odd questioned.

I nodded. "Thanks."

Above us, we heard the annoying roars of Creepers.

"They're attacking Lyoko's core!" Jeremy alerted us.

"You guys get the Creepers," Ulrich demanded. "I'll handle William."

I started to protest, but Odd dragged me away. Yumi, Odd and I began ascending up to where the Creepers were, when suddenly, Odd was hit from behind by a wave of energy and was devirtualized. I glanced back briefly, then continued making my way up to the where the Creepers were. Yumi and I were about halfway up - we had taken out about two or three Creepers - when William's sword flew up and nearly hit us. He retrieved his sword and approached us. I pulled out my sword and braced my self for a rematch. He looked at us both for a moment then suddenly said, "Super Smoke!" and disappeared into the ground. He appeared behind us and hit Yumi in the shoulder and me in the side, devirtualizing us both, leaving no on to defend the Lyoko core.

* * *

I leaned on the wall of what was supposedly Aelita's room in the Hermitage a few days later. I tried to listen to Jeremy but I kept having quick and annoying visions of this room, as well as the rest of the house.

"Hey! I got a message from Franz Hopper!" Jeremy exclaimed abruptly.

Everyone gasped - except for me because I was just snapped back into reality - and rushed to the computer.

"What's it say?" Aelita asked urgently.

"It's the code we need to recreate Lyoko!" he cheered. "It looks pretty simple to decode, so we should have Lyoko back in about a day!"

"Is there anything you can't do?" Yumi questioned.

"Get a date?" Odd suggested.

We all laughed and my phone buzzed in my pocket. I pulled it out and it was a message Alex wondering where I was. I stared at it blankly for a moment before realizing he was going to tutor me in History.

"Oh, I gotta go. I'll see you at dinner," I said quickly and left the Hermitage.

I met Alex outside my room and we began studying. He was very patient with me, and was even able to make me laugh a lot.

"So, you get it now?" he asked. I was sitting on the edge of my bed, my book in my lap, while he sat on the floor, his book in his lap.

"Yeah, I think so,"

"That's good. Here's your reward," he said.

He got on to one knee so he was eye level with me, leaned in, too quickly for me to do anything, and pressed his warm lips against mine. My eyes widened in shock, and I wanted to push him away but my body wouldn't move. His hand slid up to mine and he played with my fingers.

It was only when my door burst open that we broke apart.

"Hey, Dialla, I-" the voice stopped immediately once he saw us.

I leaned away from Alex, surprised and stared at Ulrich, my face was bright red. Ulrich stared at me for a moment, his expression unreadable, then he glared at Alex, who returned his look with a cocky smirk.

"Your interrupting, Stern," he said.

I looked at Alex, my mouth agape, then back at Ulrich. His face became mixed with anger and hurt as he shut the door.

"No, Ulrich! Wait!" I cried as I chased after him.

"Dialla!" Alex called after me.

When I emerged from my room, Ulrich was gone. My shoulders sunk as my face turned into grief and sadness.

"This is bad,"

* * *

Dinner was **horrible**! Not only did Ulrich not speak to me, he wouldn't even _look_ at me. Each time I would look at him, he would look _miserable_! The others asked what was wrong but he ignored them. At one point when we were alone at the table and I tried to talk to him.

"Ulrich-"

"Just shut up, okay?!" he snapped.

I flinched at the intensity of his words but remained silent. After dinner, when I was heading back to my room, Yumi and Aelita trapped me.

"Did something happen between you and Ulrich? A fight or something?" my black haired friend asked.

I hesitated, deciding on whether to tell them. "Sort of."

"What happened?" questioned Aelita.

"Well, Alex was tutoring me in History and he kissed me and Ulrich saw," I said quickly, blushing.

They were shocked, but Yumi was a little more shocked than Aelita. Aelita was the first to recover.

"Have you tried talking to him?" she asked.

I nodded. "He wouldn't even let me explain."

"Do you think he's jealous?" Aelita wondered.

I felt my face go hot and Yumi mumbled something under her breath.

"Maybe, but what should I do?"

"Well, maybe you should wait a couple days then try and talk to him," Yumi suggested.

It was worth a shot, though I was surprised that it was Yumi that had suggested it. Odd had mentioned something about Ulrich and Yumi having feelings for each other but they wouldn't tell each other.

"Maybe," I mused, sighing. "I just hope he lets me talk."

Yumi bade us good bye and we went out separate ways. When I got back to my room, to my surprise, I saw Alex there waiting for me. I stopped a few feet in front of him.

"Do you need something?" I asked.

"Listen, I, uh, I'm sorry for earlier," he apologized.

When I didn't speak, he continued.

"It was out of line for me to go and kiss you like that. But, I really like you, Dialla, and if you like Ulrich, that's fine by me."

"Alex..."

"I'll see you later," he said, waving slightly.

Then he turned away from me and left, leaving me more agitated and confused than ever.


	9. Halloween Dance

Please review! I know some of you are and I thank you it means a lot!

* * *

I listened to Yumi and gave Ulrich some space for a couple days. In those days, Alex had kept his distance from me, saying hi every now and then and occasionally waving at me. That was it. Also, Jeremy had managed to create a clone of William so no one would get suspicious of his absence. For now at least. I was walking in the hall with Yumi and Aelita when a colorful flyer caught my eye. Written in bold, gold letters was KADIC ACADEMY HALLOWEEN DANCE.

"Huh, so there really is a dance coming up," I mumbled.

"Are you going to go?" Yumi questioned.

"Uh, I'm not sure," I said.

"Why not? With all the attacks lately, we deserve a break, don't you think?" Aelita said.

"I guess, but, I, uh..." I hesistated, while trying to think of an excuse. "I don't have a costume."

"We're going shopping after school," Yumi stated. "And _you're_ coming with us."

I sighed. "I'm not gonna have a choice, am I?"

They smiled and nodded.

Once school ended, as promised, they took me straight to the mall. Aelita was going to be an princess, Yumi was going to be a witch, and as for me... Well, I have know idea. I scanned the aisle, looking for a costume when I found a beautiful half-angel, half-devil costume. It was a knee length dress that was white at the chest, then the rest was red. There was a pair of wings, one red and one white, and horns and a halo as a head piece. I pulled it out and examined it.

"You should get that," a voice said behind me.

Shrieking softly, I jumped and whirled around. To my utter shock, I saw Ulrich standing there.

I blushed and quickly put it back.

"I-I'm just looking," I stammered. "I might not even get anything."

A smile crept on his face. "Is that right?"

Then there was the dreadful awkward silence. (Gay baby born! XD)

"Ulrich, listen, about what happened with Alex-"

"Look, I-"

"No, let me finish!" I snapped slightly, then relaxed. "_I_ didn't kiss _him. He_ kissed _me. _And I didn't even like it!"

Ulrich stared at me for a moment. "You didn't?"

I shook my head.

"Why not? I thought you liked him."

"I do, but I kinda like someone else, too. And I just need some time to choose."

"Dialla?" I heard Yumi call. "Did you find anything?"

When she saw Ulrich, she smiled. "Oh, am I interrupting?"

"Ah, no, not at all," I said quickly.

She gave us a strange look before Aelita walked up next to her.

"Oh, hi, Ulrich," she said, then looked at me. "Are you all set?"

"Yeah, I'm all set," I said and walked over to them. I stopped once I reached them, turned and waved good bye to Ulrich before leaving with them.

* * *

"So, you're going to go?" Aelita questioned me once they paid and we were back at the Acadmey.

I nodded. "What changed your mind?"

I shrugged. "It's like you said, with all the attacks going on, we need a break,"

"That's good," Yumi noted. "It wouldn't be much fun without you."

I smiled. "Well, I am the life of the dance floor."

We all laughed and went back to the academy.

"But, wait, what are you gonna do for a costume?" Aelita asked.

"I wanna buy one later. By myself. I want it to be a surprise," I said.

They looked at me, confused, but I just smiled giddily as I slipped into my room.

During P.E the next day, I told Alex the same thing I told Ulrich. And, like Ulrich, he understood. Later that day, I was able to buy the costume after school and sneak it into my closet without anyone noticing (Ooh, I'm a ninja!). Soon enough, it was Halloween and while Dan went trick-or-treating with his friends, I was with my friends, partying on the dance floor.

"So, you bought it after all," Ulrich greeted me.

I blushed slightly. "Well, uh, yeah. It was pretty cute."

He smiled and Odd glomped me playfully and I nearly gaped at his costume. He was dressed almost exactly like his Lyoko outfit!

"Odd! How did you..."

"My cousin made it for me," he explained; he extended his hands like a cat. "Pretty cool, huh? Meow."

I giggled and we soon met up with the rest of the gang. Yumi and Aelita looked amazing in their costumes and so did they. We complimented each other, laughed and started dancing. After about an hour of non-stop dancing, I was pretty tired so I took a break. I was outside getting some air when loud screams came from the school. I whirled around in shock and Aelita and Jeremy burst from the doors.

They saw me and rushed to me.

"XANA's launched an attack. We have to get to the factory," Jeremy said.

I nodded and we quickly got to the sewers and rode our way to the factory. Jeremy started up the virtualizaton program and we got to the scanners.

"Get ready, girls. You're heading to the mountain sector," he told us.

"Got it," I said, irritated. "So much for a break."

"Virtualization!" Jeremy said.

Aelita and I landed on our feet smoothly and I scanned the area. So far, no monsters in sight.

"The tower is due north, north west. It's pretty far so you better move it," Jeremy told us.

"What's XANA's attack anyway?" I questioned.

"He somehow possessed everyone at the dance, with the exception of all of us, and they are attacking Ulrich, Odd and Yumi,"

"So, I'm on my own."

"Pretty much."

"Sweet! This is gonna be fun."

"Glad you're enjoying yourself. Here come your vehicles."

* * *

A moment later, my Overboad - the cool purple and black one - and the Overwing appeared. I stepped on it and took off. We flew for a couple meters when Jeremy alerted us that there were Tranatulas and Hornets coming. There were four hornets coming from seven o' clock, and the three Tranatulas were on the ground at twelve o' clock. The trantulas immediately opened fire on us. I spun all around, occasionally using my sword to deflect the beams, then fired my gun at them. I took out one of the Trantulas, but got shot in the back three times by the hornets. I cringed as I fell of my Overboard. Fortunately, Aelita caught me.

"Forty life points left, Dialla, you're being reckless," Jeremy scolded me.

"You wanna switch places?!" I snapped.

A hornets fired at me again from behind. I turned at the right moment and shielded the beam, then threw my sword like a boomerang as opposed to using the actual one. It was very efficient. It sliced two of them then fell to the forest floor. Suddenly, the Overwing got devirtualized by a beam and we fell to the floor. I quickly got to my feet, just in time to shield Aelita from getting hit by a beam.

"Dammit, this is bad," I mumbled. (GASP! Someone has to be a nickel in the swear jar! ^^)

I looked around, thinking of a plan, and shielding us at the same time. I closed my eyes for a moment and when I opened them, I had no pupil, but I had a plan.

"Aelita, can you create a barrier around yourself with the terrain?" I asked.

She nodded.

"Do it."

"Yes, but why?" she asked as she created the barrier.

"I've got an idea. Jeremy, when I give you the signal, can you materialize the Overboard?"

"Yeah, but, what are you planning?" he asked.

"Just do it." I said and escaped from the barrier. I took off and the monsters fired at me. Another hornet appeared and all three of them focused on me while the Trantulas focused on the barrier. I performed all sorts of gymnastic moves as I headed towards the edge.

Jeremy yelled at me as I ran towards the edge of the cliff. I leaped off, sending myself far away from the cliff. I let myself fall for a few seconds before yelling, "Now!" The Overboard appeared beneath me and I landed and took off. The hornets chased me, two were behind me and one was in front. I took the one in front of me out with my gun, then did a U-turn and headed back towards Aelita. I swooped down towards the ground and scooped up my sword, then spun around and sliced one in half, then spun around and did the same to the other one.

At the same time, the barrier had just been destroyed, but with the hornets out of the way, it was easier to focus on the trantulas. I sunk down low, making sure I was in front of Aelita, and shielded their beams. I rushed at the trantulas, then leaped off the Overboard. It continued to fly and it connected with one of the trantulas, causing it to fly off the cliff. But while I was in the air, I pulled out my boomerang and, using it as a knife, I pierced the Eye of XANA on the trantula's head, then leaped back as it exploded.

I landed on both my feet and reattached my boomerang to my shoulder, then looked up at Aelita, who was awestruck.

"That was amazing!" Aelita and Jeremy said in unison.

I smiled sheepishly. "Yeah, well."

"There's the tower," Aelita said and pointed.

I followed her finger and the activated tower was a few yards in front of us.

"Careful guys! It's William!" cried Jeremy.

Sure enough, walking leisurely behind us, was William, dressed in a new black, form-fitting attire with red outlines. The Eye of XANA was marked on his chest, forehead and sword.

"Great, I was getting lonely," I said and faced him. "Aelita head to the tower. I'll handle him."

Aelita ran and I braced myself. William sunk into the ground and rushed for me and ended up behind me. I knew he'd do that, so when he attacked, I was ready. He swung his sword, but I ducked, pivoted and swung mine. We clashed and I moved swiftly to the side, causing him to stumble forward. I kicked him in the side, pulled out my gun and fired. Three green beams struck him and he groaned slightly. He faced me and glared. I returned the look and pulled out my boomerang. I threw it at him and he dodged it, by leaping to the side. Then I fired my gun at his feet and he jumped in the air. I smirked, ran forward and slid, raising my feet in the air. The soles of his feet touched mine, and I threw him into the air, only for him to be hit by my boomerang seconds later. He was reduced into red glowing smoke, which dissipated into the mountain floor. A moment later, the tower was deactivated and my eyes returned to normal.

"Nice work, Dialla. Ulrich says that no one got hurt, so we don't have to return to the past," Jeremy said while he rematerialized us.

"That's good. Now we can get back to the dance!" I cheered.

Aelita and Jeremy smiled and we made our way back to the auditorium (or wherever they have a dance). When we got there, a lot of people had left and a slow song was playing. Jeremy and Aelita wandered off, leaving me alone. I was walking to the punch bowl when a hand grabbed my arm, stopping me.

"Want to dance?" Ulrich asked.

I hesitated, then nodded as he led me over to where Odd was, who was dancing with a blonde girl. Heidi, I think.

Odd flashed him a thumbs-up and I giggled as I wrapped my arms around his neck. His slipped around my waist and we swayed in tune with the song.


	10. Exploring and Encountering

YAY!!!! People are reviewing!!! You all rock! Keep up with the reviews, and I'll keep up with the story!

* * *

I am _so _glad it is Sunday! Sunday, meant no classes, which meant I could actually sleep in passed 7:00! WOO! I slept until ten, but knowing me, I would've slept until noon if Odd hadn't woken me up. Rudely, I might add. First, he shook me, then he yelled at me, and when that didn't work, he threw Kiwi on me! There are much more nicer ways to wake a person up in the morning! And, if having a 20 pound dog trampling you wasn't bad enough, Kiwi likes to hog beds, because he practically pushed me out of my bed onto the floor.

I glared at Odd and Ulrich, who were both laughing at me.

"This is why I'm a cat person," I said and stood up. "What's up?"

"Einstein wants us to meet him at the factory. The 'submarine' he's been working on is finished," Odd said.

I groaned. "You woke me up for that?!"

They nodded and I sighed. "Give me a few minutes and I'll meet you there."

Once they left - and I made sure Odd took Kiwi - I quickly took a shower, got dressed and tied my hair into a ponytail. Then, after brushing my teeth, I took the tunnel through the gym to the factory.

* * *

"Skidbladnir?" I repeated.

"Yep. Or Skid for short. It can fit all of you, and it can go into the digital sea. So we can explore it and hopefully get more data on how to stop XANA now that he's in the internet." Jeremy explained. "Now, get to the scanners so we can test it out."

He transfered us to Sector five and led us to where the Skid was. After taking a quick elevator ride, we reached the Skid's hanger. It was being supported by some kind of ray of light and there were five spots in front of us. I whistled.

"Nice job, Jeremy." I complimented.

"So, Einstein, what do we do now?" Odd asked.

"Each of you step on a transport pad and I'll do the rest,"

We did so and Aelita stood on the largest one in the middle.

"Ready? Here we go," Jeremy said. "Energize."

Then, almost like we were being virtualized, we were teleported into the Skid. Aelita was in the cockpit, while the rest of us were in the NavSkids. Ulrich and Odd were on the side, Yumi was on the top and I was on the bottom.

"Hey! Why am I on the bottom?!" I complained. (That's what she said! lol ^_^)

The others laughed and we all checked out our controls.

"It feels like I'm in a space ship," Odd stated.

"Cockpit to NavSkids. Do you copy?" Aelita questioned.

"Loud and clear," we replied.

"Alright, time to test it out," Jeremy said.

A moment later, the light surrounding the Skid, disappeared and Aelita had control. She led us out of Sector five and we appeared in the desert sector.

"Everyone ready?" she asked.

"Ready,"

"Okay, here goes." She brought the Skid close to the digital sea and we dove in. The digital sea was actually really nice, although I couldn't see much since I was on the bottom.

"Five minutes, guys." Jeremy told us.

"Alright!" Odd cheered.

Aelita drove us around the digital sea and after a few moments, I complained.

"Is there anyway I can get a better view?"

"We can detach each of the skids so you can control it and roam around," Jeremy said.

"Cool! Do it!"

"Okay," Aelita said and severed us from the Skid.

I took the controls and zoomed around, as well as everyone else. It was pretty simple to control, and really fun! Like I was in a jet or something.

"Dialla, don't go to far!" Jeremy scolded.

"Oh, relax, Einstein!" I called. "I've still got the Skid on my monitor."

Which was true. In the center of the controls was a small screen, with five green dots. The one in the center, me, and four others behind me.

* * *

Suddenly, my engine and controls died and I slowed to a stop.

"Huh? Hey, what happened?" I questioned, bewildered.

"Yo, Einstein, our engines died!" Odd said.

"The system is bugged Jeremy! Our engines aren't working!" Aelita cried.

"Don't worry, I have a de-bugging CD," he said, then paused. "But it is my room."

"Well, don't just sit there! Go get it!" Odd said.

"Alright, hang on guys," he said then disappeared.

"Great. Now what?" Ulrich wondered.

"I'm not sure," I said then looked at a screen that popped up.

It was a visual of what was in front of me. It looked like a large ball or something.

"Hey, you guys see that?"

"What is it?" Yumi asked.

"Is it Lyoko?" Odd questioned.

"What ever it is, its gravity is pulling me towards it," I stated.

"Can you try to get out of it?" Aelita asked.

"Engine's dead," I said, but a second after I said that, the system booted up and my engine was online. "... Scratch that. It works! How about you guys?"

"No fair! My doesn't work!" exclaimed my blond friend.

"Me neither," Yumi and Ulrich reported.

"Since your engine works, I think you should come back to the Skid, Dialla," Aelita said.

I consider this, but instead, I continued my course to the strange orb thing. It was as large as a planet. My friends hollered my name but I ignored them. It felt like something was telling me to go there. There was a small opening towards the end of the thing and I flew into it. My Navskid emerged from the digital sea and I gasped. I was back in Lyoko! The ice sector of it at least!

"Hey, guys! I'm back!" I said.

When there was no response, I tried again but no one answered me. I piloted my Navskid onto the actual sector and opened the hatch. I hopped out and examined the area. Frowning, I placed my hands on my hips.

"No welcoming comitee? How rude."

In the distance, I noticed a strange golden bubble. A large one. Curious, I walked towards it. When I reached it, hesitantly, I stretched my hand out to touch it. My hand became absorbed and I was pulled into the strange bubble. When I was fully engulfed, to my disgust, I was dressed in a pink outfit. No offense to Aelita, but I'm not a fan of pink. Never have been, never will be. But aside from that, I was in a house. It looked like a cottage, with wood flooring and a few rugs. Outside, bits of white fell to the snow-covered ground. The sound of a piano hit my ears and I followed the sound.

I stood in the doorway where I saw a familar man playing the piano. The man stopped and turned and faced me. I recognized him as the other man from my dream. He stared at me, his mouth slightly open. I returned his shocked look with a confusing one, my eyebrow raised. The man approached me quickly and hugged me. My arms, that were up and ready to attack, fell to my side when he spoke.

"My little Dialla," he murmured into my hair. "You're here after all."

I paused for a moment, then gently placed my hands on his chest and pryed him off.

"Um, not to be rude, but who are you?"

He chuckled. "How silly of me. It's been so long, you must've forgotten me." he smiled at me. "I'm your father."

I blinked, half expecting him to start laughing and saying he was joking. When he didn't, I panicked slightly.

"Um, you're _not _my dad." I said. "My dad has blond hair and blue eyes. Not brown hair and brown eyes."

He chuckled again. "I figured you would say something like that. But, don't you think it's strange that our eyes are symmetrical?"

I looked at his eyes and flinched. He was right. They were definitely my eyes. But I wasn't about to believe him.

"If you don't believe me, come take a look," he said and gestured to a row of framed pictures that lay above a fireplace.

I hesitated, but took a glance at them. One particular photo caught my eye. It was a photo of the man, and a woman with blonde hair and brown eyes. The man held a little girl in his arms, while the woman held a small baby. I looked closely at the girl, and recognized her eyes immediately.

"My eyes," I whispered.

"That's right," the man said, directly behind me. "You were about four and Daniel was just born."

* * *

I turned away from the photo and faced the man again. Water started to form in my eyes and he smiled. He extended his arms just as I leaped into them. Tears soaked his shirt as I sobbed blissfully. After a moment, I pulled away and dried my tears.

"But, I don't understand.... How are you..."

"When Franz Hopper and I were transfered to Lyoko, we were trapped by XANA. Once your friend, uh, what's his name?"

"William."

"Once William destroyed the core of Lyoko, he freed XANA, however, he also freed Franz and myself. Now, we drift amond the internet."

"And then Franz Hopper gave Jeremy a code to restore Lyoko,"

"Yes, that's right."

I smiled at him, and suddenly, a strange feeling overwhelmed me. Like, I could sense that XANA was close by, either a monster, or someone controlled by him.

I glanced at my father out of the corner of my eye, and for a brief second I noticed his eyes changed. They were no longer the chocolate brown that mirrored my own eyes, but the symbol of XANA. I immediately turned towards the door and bumped into William, who grasped my upper arm, grinning atrociously. I struggled for a moment.

"You can't escape," he said.

"Wanna bet?" I punched him with my free arm.

He grunted and released me and I took off, sprinting full speed out of the cottage and onto to the blanket of snow that covered the ground. William and my 'father', who had turned into a wolf, pursued me. I slammed into an invisible wall and hit the ground.

I held my head, stared up perplexed and pissed, and glanced back at my enemies, who were closing in. Suddenly, I was jerked out of the bubble and I hit the icy floor of Lyoko. Or the replica of it at least. Hovering over me, were the Lyoko Warriors.

"It worked Aelita," Yumi cried.

"Are you alright?" Aelita asked.

"Yeah," I said, getting to my feet. "But, I need to tell you all something."


	11. Rock Climbing Attack

Please review and I'll update as soon as I can! Thank you

* * *

I leaned against the wall of the factory, anixous. I had just finished telling them about my dream, leaving out the part about me and Dan being possessed by XANA, and about what had happened in the strange bubble, and was wating for their response. Jeremy was the first to recover.

"Why didn't you tell us?" he demanded.

"Well, it was a dream, I wasn't going to listen to it." I said.

"But, what if it was less than a dream, and more of a vision of what actually happened?" Yumi pondered.

"Oh, well I never thought of that..." I said.

"Is there anyway you can ask Franz Hopper if he knows Dialla, Jeremy?" Ulrich asked.

"Maybe. If he's on the internet, it shouldn't be too hard," the science kid replied. "I'll do my best, but there's really no promises."

I sunk down untill I was sitting and held my head, groaning. My friends comforted me.

"Don't worry, Dialla," Aelita said. "We'll figure this out."

"I sure hope so," I mumbled.

After lunch, I decided to take a stroll around the park. I was sitting on a bench in the heart of the park when two hands were pressed gently on my shoulders.

"Hey, there, Dialla," Alex said grinning. "How you doing?"

"Oh, hi, Alex. I'm fine," I replied as he sat down.

"So, uh, you need something?" I inquired, after a moment of akward silence.

"Well, uh, you're in to rock climbing, right?"

"Yeah."

"See, my dad owns a really cool rock climbing place and he said I could stop by sometime and go for free. And he said I could bring a friend, so I thought maybe you would like to come."

"When?"

"Tomorrow. My dad's gonna bail us out of school. Is that okay?"

I thought that over. If XANA trys to attack tomorrow, they'd probably need my help. But if he doesn't.... "Sure. I'll just need to ask my parents first." And by parents, I meant my friends.

He nodded and smiled. "Yeah."

Another period of silence.

"So, I missed you at the dance last night. You don't like dances?" I asked.

"No, I do, but I had to take my little sister trick-or-treating," he answered.

"I didn't know you had a sister."

He nodded. "Yep. Maddy, she's 12."

"Really? So is my brother, Dan."

"Cool."

"So, where is the rock climbing place?"

"It's a couple miles away from here and tons of fun. There's a lot of different rocks to climb and you can also do some bouldering."

"Bouldering?"

"It's when you climb without using a harness and you have a giant safety mat in case you fall."

"Interesting. Yeah, I think I can go."

"Great. Let me know later." He abruptly caught sight of his watch. "Ooh, I gotta go. I have to watch my sister for a while. See you later."

And with that, he took off. I waved goodbye, stayed there for a few moments, then went to confront my friends about it.

* * *

"-And it's tomorrow during school. His dad is gonna find some way to bail us out. If XANA attacks, will you be okay on your own?" I questioned.

"We should be able to. In any case, you should go, Dialla," Jeremy said. "It'll give you some time to take your mind off of that dream and what happened on that replica."

I looked at the others, who nodded in agreement.

"Well, okay, but if XANA attacks just let me know and I'll be there to help as quick as I can," I said.

"Don't worry. Like you said, XANA has been quiet lately," Odd pointed out.

"So go and have fun. And even if XANA attacks, we'll stop him." Yumi assured me.

I smiled at them and hugged all of them in a big group hug. "You guys are the best."

They hugged me back and we all shared a little laugh.

I sat outside the principal's office, Alex sitting next to me as his father talked to the principal. We were missing Phys. Ed, which I didn't mind, because Jim was having them do more track stuff. About ten minutes passed and the door opened and Alex's father and Mr. Delmas stepped out of the room.

"Alright, you may go on the rock climbing trip, but you must make up all of the work you will miss today," Mr. Delmas said. "Is that clear?"

"Yes, sir," we replied.

"Alright, then. Let's head out!" Mr. Rider cried ecstaticly.

I chuckled, and my phone vibrated in my pocket. I pulled it out and it was a message from Ulrich telling me to have fun. I quickly replied back and slipped the phone back into my pocket.

* * *

I slung my backpack, loaded with food and water, over my shoulder and climbed into the seat of a silver minivan. Alex climbed in next to me and shut the door. His father started up the car and drove off. We drove for about five to ten minutes while Alex explained everything about the climbing vicinity. He explained that we would hike for about ten minutes untill we reached the actually climbing area. Then we would get our harnesses, helmets and special climbing shoes on and we'd be all set to climb.

We arrived at the parking lot and climbed out. In front of us, was a large forest with a trail which we followed. We reached the end of the trail and saw that ropes were set up all along huge cliffs. Once I saw how high up they were, I gulped slightly.

"Afraid of heights?" Alex questioned, amused.

I nodded. "A little bit."

Mr. Rider placed his hands on my shoulders. "Don't worry. We have counselors who have done this a million times. You'll be fine."

That loosened me up a little and we got our equipment on and we were reading to climb.

"Okay, my name is Edward and I'll be your instructor," a blonde haired man said. "Is this your first time climbing?"

"Here, yes, but I've climbed before," I explained.

"So you're aware of the commands?"

"Yes."

"Alright then. You wanna climb first?"

"Um.... Sure, I guess."

"Okay, let's get you strapped in then."

* * *

Edward led me over to a cliff with purple rope hanging from it. I tied my self in at the same time he did.

"On belay?" I asked my partner.

"Belay is on," he replied.

"Permission to climb?"

"Climb away."

I stared up at the cliff for a moment. There was a large crack off to the left that I could use, as well as a few footholds. I stretched over to the crack, placed my feet on the rock, and began my ascend upward. I was about a little more than halfway up, struggling a little, when I placed my right foot on a tiny foothold. It wasn't enough to hold my foot and I slipped. I gasped softly and fell for a few seconds but was stopped immediately.

"Don't worry! You're doing fine! I've got you!" Edward cried.

"Keep it up, Dialla!" Alex called.

I turned my head and smiled at him. But when I did, I saw how high up I was and gulped.

"Don't look down!" Mr. Rider told me.

"Oh yeah, that'll help," I muttered, but managed to continue climbing.

I slipped again and struggled to find a hand hold. I found one and managed to relax a little. However, as I did, I was looking down and my fear of heights was begining to overwhelm me.

"Dialla!" I heard Alex's voice above me.

I looked up and saw Alex standing on the top of the cliff.

"Come on! You can do it! Just look at me, okay? Look at me!" he told me.

I nodded, took a deep breath and continued climbing. When I finally reached the top, Alex reached out and touched my hand, laughing. I laughed too and whooped.

"Nice job, Dialla!" Mr. Rider called.

"You ready to come down?" Edward questioned me.

I nodded. "Permission to fall?"

"Fall away."

I leaned back, putting all my weight on the rope and he lowered me safely to the ground at a steady pace. My feet touched the ground and I stumbled. I loosened myself out of the harness and sighed happily. Then, while Mr. Rider and Edward congradulated me, I sat down against a tree and took a sip of my water. A minute later, Alex walked over towards me and congradulated me.

"See? It's not so bad," he told me.

"Yeah, I guess your right. Are you gonna climb?"

"You bet. Now you can watch a pro climb." he said conceitedly.

I rolled my eyes and leaned back, amused. He was a really experienced climber and climbed the cliff with ease. Then again, it was probably because he didn't have a fear of heights.

He appeared by my side again and told me that there were others we could climb. I stood up and followed him and sure enough, there were five more we could climb.

"This is gonna be fun!" I cried ecstaticly.

Yumi's POV

I was sitting in my Geometry class, trying hard to pay attention but failing. The William clone was getting used to the school, but Jeremy needs to upgrade him some more. My phone buzzed from my book bag and it was an S.O.S from Jeremy, meaning XANA was on the move. I stood up and raised my hand.

"Ma'am, may I go to the infirmery?" I questioned.

Mrs. Meyer nodded and I quickly made my way to the factory.

* * *

"So, what your saying is, XANA launched an attack, but nothing unusual is happening?" Odd prompted after Jeremy explained the situation.

"Yes," he answered.

"How strange. Could this be a new tactic?" Aelita questioned.

"I'm not sure. But anyway, head to the scanners,"

"Should we call Dialla? XANA might have decided to attack her." Ulrich sugessted.

"That's a good idea," I commented. "I'll call her."

Dialla's POV

I was in the middle of a climb when Alex called my name.

"Yo, Dialla," he hollared. "You're phone is ringing."

I stopped and looked down at him. "What does the caller ID say?"

He checked it. "It's Yumi."

Could this be a XANA attack? I thought. "Okay, Edward, can you lower me?"

"Okay," he reponded and I was lowered to the ground.

Alex handed me my phone and I answered it.

"Hello, Yumi? What is it?"

"Dialla, XANA's launched an attack, but nothing unususal is happening here. Is everything okay where you are?"

"Yeah, everything's-"

A blood-curdling scream peirced the silence of the forest. Everyone turned in the direction of the scream and a girl around my age was running franticly away from something.

Following closed behind her, was a large clump of fur. It was on all-fours as it slowly pursued it's prey. It stopped and scanned the area while everyone ran around screaming. It's auburn eyes locked with mine and I was petrified with fear.

"Dialla?" Yumi's voice was full of concern and worry. "Are you alright?"

The bear took a few steps forward, his stride quickly turned into a run as he charged at me. I struggled with the rope tied tightly around my harness. Once I undid the rope, the large animal was a few yards from me. It raised it's right paw and swooped down to strike me untill I was tackled out of the way. My cell phone fell from my hand, which was later crushed by the large paw.

Alex and I rolled on the bumpy dirt untill he was on top of me. He quickly got to his feet, pulling me up as he did and we took off. I looked back to where my phone was.

"That was brand new!" I whined.

"Shut up and run!" Alex chided.

I obeyed and after running for a while, we ducked behind a tree to catch our breath. Alex peered around the tree.

"Okay, I think we lost it," he mumured.

"Do you have your phone on you?" I questoned urgently.

"Yeah, here," he said and handed it to me. "Why?"

"I need to call someone." I said bluntly and dialled Jeremy's number.

"We need to get higher in case it comes this way," Alex mused.

I nodded and he cupped his hands together. I stepped into them as he hoisted me up into the tree. Alex reached his hand up and I extended mine.

I grasped his hand and managed pulled him up. Once we got comfortable, Jeremy finally answered.

"Dialla? What's the-"

"Bear." I interuppted. "XANA's attack is a bear. A very pissed off one, in fact."

I ignored Alex's confused glance at me while Jeremy responded.

"Okay, where are you?"

"Sitting in a tree."

"What? Why are - never mind. Aelita's on her way to the tower, but it might be a while. XANA has sent some krabes and trantulas to guard it. And, William will probably show up soon."

"It certaintly wouldn't be a party without him. Okay, tell them to make it fast."

"Will do. Hang in there."

I hung up and returned the phone to Alex. He opened his mouth to speak, but the ominous roar stopped him as the bear had returned.

"We've got to get higher. You first." Alex ordered.

I nodded and started climbing untill I heard a devastating crack. I watched in horror as the branch Alex had been standing on abruptly detached itself from the rest of the tree and plunged to the grassy floor, where the bear lay waiting, circling the tree.

"Alex!!!!"


	12. Off to the Hospital we go!

I am SO sorry for the delay. I was in Carolina for three days visiting my grandparents, then when I finally got back, the computer I use now has a virus in it. While my dad is trying to get it fixed, I am forced to use my old, crappy computer. Anyway, here is the next chapter of Life as a Lyoko Warrior! Enjoy and please review!

* * *

My friend hit the floor hard, thankfully missing the bear, and even from where I was in the tree, I heard the sickening crack of a bone. His howl of pain was imminent as well as me screaming his name once more. The bear stared at him for a moment, then took a step towards him. That was too much for me as I snapped of a piece of a branch.  
"Get away from him!" I cried as I threw the stick at the beast.  
The stick hit the bear on the head and it turned its attention to me, glaring daggers at me. Then, it stood up on it's hind legs and made an attempt to slash my foot. I brought my foot up quickly, his sharp claws missing by mere inches. The bear tried several more times before giving up. It turned back to Alex and made its way towards him. I scampered down the tree and yelled randomly, waving, doing anything to get its attention.

Luckily, the bear locked eyes with me and I took off running. The bear chased me but I managed to keep a significant amount of distance between us. That is, until I reached a hill where I skidded to a stop. I glanced at the hill, which was adorned with many rocks, twigs, random shards of glass - probably from beer bottles - and back at the bear, who was closing in on me. I took a deep breath and began my way down slowly. I was only a foot or so down when the bear reached me. I tried to quicken my pace but the bear slashed its paw at me. It's claws weren't extended - thank God - but the blow sent me rolling down the hill, getting covered in scratches.

* * *

When I finally reached the bottom, I was doubled over in pain. The clout was bad enough, but now I had various pieces of glass in my arms. I gritted my teeth as I pulled them out, causing blood to trickled down my forearms. I sighed, wincing, and looked up the hill. The bear had vanished, and I assumed it was either searching for a safer way down to my position...  
... Or it was heading back to Alex.  
I prayed that it was coming after me. Alex's leg is probably broken and it's all my fault. I ducked behind a tree to catch my breath and analyze my wounds. There weren't too bad, nothing critical. I heard a few gruffs and snorts of the animal and held my breath. I waited a few minutes before peeking cautiously around the tree. When the coast was clear, I made my way back to Alex as quickly and quietly as my pale, slender legs would allow me.

I found Alex leaning on a tree, struggling to get up. I quickly ran to him and propped him up on my shoulder. He saw me and gasped softly.  
"You... You're hurt," he mumbled.  
"No, I'm fine. You're hurt," I corrected.  
"Where's the bear?" he asked.  
"I think I lost it. But that doesn't matter. I'm getting you out of here," I told him. "Which leg is injured?"  
"My right one."  
"Lift it up so we can move."  
He acceded and we limped back towards the site. Unfortunately, we couldn't get far because the bear had found us again. We stopped, frozen in fear. The XANA possessed bear must've been thinking the same thing I was.

_We are so screwed!_

The bear slowly closed in on us and I made an attempt to keep Alex behind me, but he got out of my grip and stood in front of me. The bear knocked him out of the way with ease and he hit the ground hard.  
"Alex!" I shrieked and rushed to him.  
He was moaning in pain and I was crouched down next to him. The bear was on us again, standing on its hind legs. It raised its paw, its claws extended and swung at us. I leaned over Alex, squeezing my eyes shut, waiting for the pain.

Instead of pain, all I felt was a cold nose poking me in the face. I opened my eyes and the bear was sniffing me. It licked me once, before getting back on all four of its legs and walking away. I blinked several times, then sighed, got of Alex and sat on my knees.  
"They did it," I murmured.  
Alex's phone rang and I answered it.  
"Hello?"  
"_Dialla! Are you alright?!"_ Ulrich's voice was full of apprehension.  
"Yes, I'm alright. Alex might've broken his right leg though."  
"_And the bear?"_  
"It's gone. Nice timing you guys. And don't bother with a return to the past."  
"_Are you sure?_"  
"Positive."  
"_All right then._"  
I hung up when Mr. Rider and many others appeared.  
"Where'd the wild bear go?" Edward asked.  
"It, uh, ran off. But, Alex is hurt. I think his leg is broken," I explained.

Mr. Rider lifted up his son carefully. "Alright, let's get you to the hospital, kiddo."  
Edward helped me up. "You should come, too, so you're scratches don't get infected."  
"Uh, well, okay." I said reluctantly and stood up.  
We helped Alex into the car and Mr. Rider drove us to the hospital. We reached the hospital within ten minutes and Alex was led away on a stretcher while I was led into a room. My wounds were cleaned and bandages quickly and unfortunately Mr. Rider called my parents. Soon, I was being crushed by my mom's skinny arms in a bear hug as she was hysterical. After my dad pulled her away I took in some lungfuls of air. Once I did, I calmly explained the situation, emphasising the fact that I was fine, and persuaded them to go home. They obliged and I went to see Alex after they left.

* * *

I found his room and knocked politely, even though the door was open. In the bed grinning like an idiot, Alex was dressed in a hospital attire. His left leg was trapped in a large green cast the covered most of his leg. He held a black Sharpie.  
"Wanna be the first to sign?"  
I smiled and walked over. I had just finished writing my message, adding a little heart at the end, a nurse came in and announced that his friends had arrived. We stared at each other confused until a group of kids walked in with a card.  
"Hey, Cripple," I frowned at his insult but he didn't notice. "We heard you got hurt so we made you a card."  
"Aw, thanks, Odd," Alex replied.  
Odd placed the card on the table next to his bed and noticed the marker.  
"Ooh! Can I sign your cast?" Odd begged, snatching the writing utensil from my hand.  
Alex stuttered out a yes and Odd latched himself to the cast, writing 'Get better soon, pal!' and then drawing a strange smiley.

The rest of my friends crowded around, begging to sign, and I noticed my brunette friend hanging by the door,. Judging by how he was sulking, I could tell he didn't want to be here. I walked over to him.  
"Was everything okay on Lyoko?" I asked lowly.  
He nodded. "William was a little tough but we took him down."  
"That's good to here."  
I paused for a moment. "Look, Ulrich, I know you don't like him, but could you please sign his cast?"  
His face twisted into disgust. "Why?"  
"Because, you can write whatever you want," I said, "And if you had a cast, I would have him sign it if that helps."  
"It doesn't, but I have an idea," he said and walked over.  
He waited for Aelita to finish before signing. I peered over to see what he wrote, but he wrote it at a strange angle that it was difficult to read. After chatting with him, the nurse told us we had to leave because he had to stay the night for some reason.  
When we left I asked Ulrich what he had written.  
"It's an... inside joke, between us," he replied simply.

Alex's POV

I was a little surprised that Ulrich was signing my cast. Once he finished, I looked at it. It read:  
_Stay away from Dialla_.  
I smirked, chuckled lightly.  
_Good, he's still willing to fight for her. It wouldn't be much fun without any competition._


	13. Sibling and Boy Trouble

Here's chapter 13, I hope you like it! Enjoy and please review!

* * *

Months passed by and XANA continued to attack us. Stubborn thing. Nonetheless, we stopped him each time. Alex's leg healed in a couple of week prior to now and he bought me a new cell phone - a magenta and navy blue one. It was a new semester and Dan was now in sixth grade. With him being a new student, I had to show him to his classes. It wasn't that bad, but a lot of times his classes would be pretty far away from mine and I would be late. So, after getting scolded by Mrs. Hertz - who was now officially on my teachers-who-I-hate list - I was pretending to listen when my cell phone started to ring. I cursed myself for forgetting to put it on silent. Mrs. Hertz glared her beady little eyes at me and I checked the caller ID. For some reason, it was my mom. I was about to answer it when the phone was snatched away.  
"Hey!" I exclaimed.  
"No cell phones in class, Miss. Reinhart," she chided.  
"But, I-"  
"You can have it back after class," she said firmly.  
Snickers and giggles echoed in the room - except for my friends, who looked at me with concern - and Mrs. Hertz put my phone on her desk. Up until the class ended, I couldn't stop think about why my mom would've called me. She said that she would only call me during school if it was an emergency. I kept my eyes on the clock, watching the minutes slowly tick away. We had five minutes left of class, but it felt like days. Finally, the bell rang and I got up and strode to my desk. the gray haired teacher returned my phone, scolded me again, then dismissed me. Once I was outside, I dialled my mom's number.

It rang two times before her hysterical voice answered.  
"Dialla! Dialla!" she half-screamed. "Oh my baby!"  
"Mom? Hey, what's going on? Mom!"  
There was no response for a moment.  
"Dialla?" It was my dad.  
"Dad? What's going on?" I demanded.  
"It's your brother. We can't find him. Is he at school?" asked my father.  
"I don't know. I'll go check." I promised.  
"Ok, let us know if he's there." he said and hung up.  
I shut my phone, put it in my pocket and headed towards Dan's room.

* * *

I knocked three times and waited. The door opened and it was his roommate and best friend, Ricky.  
"Hi, Ricky," I said. "Is Dan here?"  
Ricky shook his head. "No, he never came to school today. I assumed he was sick."  
I thanked him and left. I called my dad again and told him he wasn't here. He finally told me that he never came home last night.  
Which was strange because he always came home for dinner then slept at the school. Since it was lunch time, I was going to take the liberty to look for him, but my friends stopped me.  
"Is everything all right, Dialla?" Aelita inquired.  
"My brother is missing and I'm going to find him," I said bluntly and walked passed them.  
Ulrich grabbed my arm and stopped me. I narrowed my eyes at him.  
"Let us help you," he said. "It'll be easier to look for him if we all help."  
The others nodded in agreement and I managed to relax a little.  
"Alright," I said. "Let's split up."  
Odd and Yumi searched the school, Jeremy and Aelita searched the park and Ulrich and I searched the city. After running around for about a half hour, Ulrich's phone rang.  
He answered it. "Yeah? Okay, be right there."  
He hung up and announced that XANA has activated a tower. I grimaced, but reluctantly followed him to the factory.

The elevator doors opened and we walked over to the computer where the others crowded around Jeremy. There was a visual of a sector on the screen. It showed multiple krabes and trantulas, William and another companion. The colleague was a boy with brown hair dressed in a black and red body suit. He had a sword and some kind of cannon strapped to his back as well as a small shield on his left arm. As I examined the enemy, I recognized him as my younger brother.  
Dan Reinhart.  
I stumbled back a little, surprised and lightheaded. My friends supported me in case I were to fall.  
"I'm not sure how," Jeremy said. "but XANA managed to take over Dan and bring him to Lyoko. So now he's like William, utterly trapped under XANA's control."  
"Start up the procedure," I demanded, my surprise being replaced with anger. "I'm going to Lyoko."  
"We all are," Yumi corrected.  
"Fine, but I'll deal with Dan," I said.  
Jeremy virtualized Yumi, Aelita and I first and I landed on the forest floor with grace. Ulrich and Odd soon joined us and he materialized our vehicles. I leaped onto my Overboard and took off.

The monsters fired at me and I shielded the red beams, then fired my green ones. I took out two krabes and a trantula out of the ten before I was shot in the shoulder by a green beam. I winced and saw that the beam had come from a gun in the hands of my brother and now my enemy. I glared at him, but my priority was to take out the monsters first. I looked down below and saw Ulrich battling William, Odd was taking on a few krabes and Yumi was fighting trantulas. Aelita occasionally helped with her energy fields, but kept a safe distance between the monsters. I took out a more monsters untill there was only a krabe, which was later taken out by Odd. I brought the Overboard closer to the ground and hopped off, ready to fight.

* * *

Suddenly, a large whiteish blue beam with red in the middle was fired and hit Odd, then was fired again and hit Yumi, who were both devirtualized.  
"Odd! Yumi!" I cried, and quickly leaped into the air, evading the beam.  
I landed on the ground and doved to the left as another beam was fired at me. I glared at Dan, who pointed his cannon at me. We glared at each other and I threw my boomerang at him. He strapped the cannon onto his back and pulled out the sword, which he used to deflect the boomerang easily. The boomerang came back and I reattached it to my shoulder. I hopped on the Overboard, flew towards him and leaped off. The Overboard flew forward, about to collide, when suddenly it exploded. In his right hand he held his gun, which he quickly replaced with a sword as I pulled mine out.

We clashed for a while, and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ulrich get devirtualized by William's sword. Normally, I would've cried out his name, but Aelita was the only one who could deactivate the tower and I had to protect her. I kicked Dan in the stomach, which sent him stumbling back a few feet, and charged at William, who was sauntering in on Aelita. My sword connected with his and I ordered Jeremy to program the Overwing for her. He did so, and Aelita hopped on and rode toward the tower. Another sword swung at me from behind and I manage to shield it, while dealing with William.

Dan pulled back his sword and kicked me in the side. I skidded on the ground, stopping a few inches from the edge. I looked up and saw William coming down on me. I rolled out of the way and swiped his feet, but just before he hit the ground, I kicked him in the ribs and sent him into a tree. When I got to my feet, Dan was attacking me now. I did a few back handsprings, gaining some distance, and braced my self for his attack. He pulled out his cannon in his left hand, and his gun in his right. He fired at me and I shielded the beams, but the blow sent me flying. Then Dan threw his sword at me as did William.

"Dialla!" I heard my comrades call and my eyes lost their pupil again.

A sword came at me from the front and my left and I spun in the air, pulling out my sword and deflecting William's sword, Dan's sword missed me by inches and I threw my sword at William, as well as a few shots from my gun. The sword got close to William, and I had a feeling he would deflect it, but fortunately, my beams hit the sword, bounced off and hit him in the chest, defeating him. I watched as he disappeared, then remembered my brother just as I got slashed in half in my stomach from behind. I appeared in the Scanner Room, exhausted and hurt. I stepped out and crouched down, holding my stomach, still feeling the pain from his attack. The elevator door opened and Ulrich and Odd rushed towards me, helping me up.  
"Did Aelita..." I questioned weakly.  
"Yeah, Jeremy's launching a return to the past right now," Ulrich explained.

* * *

After the return to the past, we were all in the factory as Jeremy checked to see if Dan was still on Lyoko. Unfortunately, he was and still trapped in XANA's clutches. We were skipping class now so I got a call from my mom, wondering where Dan was. I made up a lie, saying he was going on a week field trip for school and surprisingly they bought it. I hated lying to them, especially about Dan, but right now, it couldn't be helped. Jeremy was talking, promising that we would free him and saying that he would have a clone take his place. I couldn't handle that. Sure he could be annoying and immature, but he was my brother. And I didn't want some clone wannabe replacing that. And yet, when Jeremy asked if that was alright, I nodded and said sure.

Aelita's POV

Dialla wasn't herself. And I wasn't the only one noticing. When Jeremy asked if it was alright, she nodded and said she was fine with it. But I could tell by the blank look in her eyes that it was hurting her a lot. All throughout the rest of the day - and the rest of the week - she still had that blank look on her face. She would engage in conversations with us, but it was like she lost all of her emotions. We all felt terrible and we tried to console her, but it didn't work. Ulrich, Yumi and Odd were doing what ever they could to cheer her up while Jeremy and I worked on her brother's clone. We finally finished, making sure the clone was as much like as Dan as possible. Jeremy called the others and they arrived to test out the clone.

The clone was so rude and egotistic that I thought there was a bug in the program but Dialla said he was perfect, the blank look on her face. We got Dan to his room and made up a little fib, then Dialla called her parents and told her that Dan was back. And, since it was getting late, Yumi left for her home and we made our way to our rooms. I said goodnight to the boys and Dialla and went to my room and out of the corner of my eye, I saw Ulrich walking with Dialla to her room.

Alex's POV

All week I noticed Dialla was acting strange. I tried asking her little gang about it but they said that she wouldn't tell them. Then, I tried her brother and he just shrugged and said it was 'her time of the month'. I laughed at that, but decided to confront her. Since she was avoiding me all week, I decided to confront her at her room as I was leaning on the wall next to her door. After waiting a few minutes, I finally saw her walking to her room. Unfortunately, Ulrich was with her. I glared slightly at him, but quickly composed myself.  
"Hey, Dialla," I said.  
Hearing her name, she looked up. When our eyes met, a small smile crept on her face.  
"Hi," she said softly.  
"Shouldn't you be in your room?" Ulrich snapped.  
"Probably. But, I want to talk to Dialla. _Alone_, if that's alright," I said, smirking.  
"Leave her alone," he hissed. "She's exhausted and needs her rest."  
"Then why are you with her?"  
"I'm her friend. I'm taking care of her,"  
"Is that so? Then, if you are her friend, then I don't see the problem of me just simply talking to her." I said, then added smugly. "_Unless that bothers you."_  
The term _'if looks could kill'_ pretty much described how hard his glare was. He literally looked like he wanted to rip me to shreds.

Dialla's POV

The sound of two boys fighting - and I mean actual fist fighting - snapped me out of my daze. In front of me, I saw Alex on top of Ulrich, his hand pulled back ready to strike, while Ulrich was gripping his collar. I yelped slightly and struggled to pull them off each other. Students near by came out of their room came out and crowded around. I finally pulled Alex off Ulrich, nearly crashing into a wall in the process, and finally Jim showed up.  
"Stern! Rider! Where do you think you are? An MMA fight?" he bellowed as he grabbed them both by their collars.  
"Alright, back to your rooms! All of you!" he added as he took them to the principal.  
I ran a hand through my hand, utterly abashed.


	14. Winter Surprise and New Outfits

Here you go! The latest chapter of Life as a Lyoko Warrior! Enjoy and review please!

* * *

The next morning at breakfast, I confronted Ulrich, asking what had happened. He explained the situation, and I felt my face go hot when he told me they were pretty much fighting over me. I changed the subject by asking what his punishment was.  
"Two hours of detention today," he grumbled, "With Alex."  
I groaned. "Can't you guys at least try to get along?"  
"I try," he protested. "He just provokes me."  
I sighed and got my meal then sat at our table. Once breakfast ended we had P.E. and I made sure Ulrich was away from Alex. I asked Odd to help since Jeremy and Aelita were skipping class to be at the factory. When we were in pairs, I grabbed Ulrich, while Odd went with Alex.  
"What are you doing?" he interrogated.  
"I don't want you two fighting anymore," I said, "So, I'm keeping you away from each other."  
"Can't you just decide who you like?"  
"No,"  
"Why?"  
"Because I don't know. I just.... I just need a little time. I have a lot going on and you of all people should know that,"  
He paused for a moment, letting the words sink in.  
"You're right," he said ."I'm sorry."  
"It's okay," I replied and we continued the exercise.

Suddenly something cold and wet hit the base of my neck and I flinched, shrieking slightly. Ulrich stared at me concerned.  
"What is it?" he demanded.  
"Something wet hit me. Is it raining?" I looked up at the sky.  
Ulrich mimicked me and smiled. "Close. It's snowing."  
I wrinkled my nose in disgust as little white flakes were slowly falling to the ground. The snow was coming down fast, and in seconds the ground was covered. Students ran around excited, shrieking and laughing with joy.  
"Stick your tounge out,"  
I eyed my friend in confusement, but obeyed. Many little pieces of snow hit my tongue and instantly turned into water. Giggling like a child, I kept my tounge out, watching with amusement as the bits of white hit my tongue.

Using my peripheral vision, I saw Ulrich sticking his tongue out for a moment, then laying down on the ground, moving his arms and legs simultaneously. I watched him, bemused. Suddenly remembering that I had never seen snow before - except in cartoons when it looked like frosted flakes - he told me that he was making a snow angel. I continued to watch him before hesitantly trying it out for myself. When we got up, his was perfect while mine looked like a big blob. I frowned and got smacked in the back of the head by a puff of white. An annoying laugh told me it was my food-loving friend. Ulrich laughed and made a snowball then handed it to me. I faced Odd, who was holding his sides laughing, and threw the snowball.

* * *

It smacked him square in the face and he fell. Kids around him roared with laughter, including Ulrich and I. Odd got back up, and the three of us engaged in a snowball war. After a minute, a large gust of wind blew and the snow was coming down harder. Jim barked at us to get inside. We all got into the boiler room, which was already crowded. Ulrich and Odd carried in Milly and Tamiya. Jim and Mr. Delmas handed out some blankets and warm clothes. My phone rang and Jeremy told us that XANA had launched an attack. We snuck into our rooms to get warmer gear and emerged into snow. After running through the snow for a few minutes, we found a car smashed into a tree. A man with Sissi and Herb were near by.

They tried to explain, but we ignored them and made them go inside. We waited for them to get a few meters away, but before I could even take a step, unbeknownst to me, the tree the car had smashed into had begun to fall.  
"Dialla!" Ulrich cried and shoved me out of the way.  
I fell into a pile of snow, climbed out and shook my head vigorously. "Ulrich?"  
He was underneath the tree, a few scrapes and cuts, but otherwise fine. Odd and I got up and grabbed his hands. We groaned and yelled as we pulled with all our might, trying to free our trapped friend.  
"It's no use! Ow!" he whimpered. "My waist and legs are stuck. Go to Lyoko and deactivate the tower."  
"But we can't just leave you here!" Odd protested.  
"I'll stay and try to get him out," I said firmly. "You go to Lyoko. And hurry."  
Odd nodded.  
"Good luck." We said in unison and he ran off.

I turned to Ulrich. "I'm going to go to the tool shed to see if I can find something to get you out of there. Okay? I'll be right back,"  
"Okay," he replied and I sprinted towards the shed.  
After examining all the tools, I stumbled upon a chainsaw. (CHAINSAW! *makes chainsaw noise*) Grinning, I grabbed it.  
"If this doesn't work, I don't know what will," I mumbled and headed back to Ulrich, who was covered in snow and ice.  
"Ulrich? Ulrich!" I screeched and rushed to him, dropping the chainsaw.  
I brushed the snow off and started to shake him. "Come on, stay awake."  
"Let me... sleep," he whispered.  
"No, you can sleep later," I barked. "Now stay awake. I'm gonna get you out."  
He looked up slightly and saw the chainsaw. "Where did you get a chainsaw?"  
"The shed," I said and got up, grabbing the chainsaw.  
"You know how to use one?"  
I hadn't thought of that.  
"Crap. Uh, yeah! Sure! I mean, how hard can it be?"  
Praying that I was holding it correctly, I yanked the string hard.

* * *

It roared into life and I nearly dropped it out of surprise. Without hesitating, I brought the chain down. The chain saw began to cut the wood for about a minute or so, but XANA decided to be a total jerk off because it was getting colder fast. I was a quarter of the way through when the chain turned to ice and broke. I fell into a pile of snow, yelling in anger. I got up and kicked a pile of snow, knowing it would do me know good.

I looked over at Ulrich and noticed he wasn't moving. I rushed to him and hugged him, trying to keep him warm.  
"Stay awake, Ulrich," I commanded. "Don't you dare fall asleep, you got that? I.... I choose you, okay?! You're the one I want to be with. Not Alex!"  
When he didn't answer, I assumed the worse and hugged him tighter.  
"No," I whispered; a tear slipped from my eye then froze on the spot.

Then, we went back in time.

I was in my room, getting ready to go to breakfast, when there was a knock on my door.  
"Come in!" I called, lacing my sneakers.  
The door opened and I saw a pair of white sneakers.  
"Good morning," Ulrich said. "You got a second?"  
I finished tying my right shoe and leaned back. "Sure. What's up?"  
He shut the door. "Remember when I got trapped under the tree in the snow?"  
My cheeks turned a faint pink. "Uh, yeah. I thought you were done for."  
"Yeah, and, uh, I heard what you said."  
The blush deepened slightly. "What do you mean?"  
"You said that you wanted to be with me, not Alex."  
My face was as red as a tomato now and I looked away.  
"Oh, uh..." I couldn't think of anything to say.  
"Did you really mean it?" he asked tentatively.  
After pondering for a moment, I nodded. "Yeah."

* * *

There was a moment of silence, which was soon broken by something warm and soft brushing my cheek. I blushed deeper - if possible - and I looked at him surprised.  
"Let's not tell the others," he said, also blushing. "At least, not right away."  
"Ah, uh, right. Okay, not a word," I agreed.  
We stood up and made our way to breakfast with Odd, Aelita and Jeremy. As we ate, Jeremy explained that each Replika has a supercomputer in the real world. So, in order to fully destroy the Replika, we have to destroy the supercomputer in the real world using a new program he and Aelita developed.  
"So, what your saying is, you can teleport us to the real word, and we'll still have our powers?" I questioned.  
"From the Skid, yes. Think of yourself as a spectre," Einstein answered. "But I have to activate a tower first."  
"Cool! When can we try it out?" Odd asked eagerly.  
"Since we don't have classes this after noon, we'll go then," Jeremy suggested.  
We agreed and the morning dragged on at a leisurely pace. I sat in History as Mr. Fumet lectured on about the Renaissance, not that I was listening, but I did hear the beeping from Jeremy's computer.

The five of us asked to go the infirmary and surprisingly, he allowed it. At my old school, the teacher wouldn't even let us talk to each other above a whisper. I dialled Yumi and explained the situation and she said she'd be there soon. We zipped through the disgusting odor of the sewer, slid down the rope and headed into the elevator. Jeremy checked the supercomputer and announced that William and Dan were in the desert sector. My fist clenched in anger and he transfered us to Lyoko. Aelita and I were virtualized first, high in the air, wavering a little before falling. I landed gracefully on my feet, and noticed my attire had changed, as did hers. I was dressed in a black and purple form-fitting body suit, with a red pack on my back. I had on black, fingerless gloves, and there was an amethyst gem on left wrist again. My brown hair was down and parted to the left. I had two swords strapped to my hips, which I pulled out and swung around.  
"Sweet, two swords," I said.  
"That's not all," Jeremy informed me. "You can also materialize two guns at your will and you should have two boomerangs on your shoulder pads."  
I tugged on my magenta pads and sure enough, they transformed into boomerangs.

I looked at my companion and we smiled at each other. Odd and Ulrich appeared and they too, had new outfits. Odd's outfit was similar to his old one, but slimmer and more form-fitting. On top of his head, were cute little cat ears.  
"I love you're ears, Odd," I giggled.  
"What?!" he yelped and touched them, then moaned, causing us to laugh.  
I glanced over at Ulrich to examine his new outfit. He was dressed in a tight-looking brown and yellow body suit and he had two swords on his back.  
"Is two, like, you're lucky number or something, Einstein?" I asked.  
"I guess so. Anyway, no time for fashion. You've got company. William, Dan and a few Trantula south, southeast. As well as an way tower," he ordered us.  
"Roger that," I said, "Can you give us a ride?"  
"Coming right up."

* * *

A second later, our vehicles appeared and Aelita hopped on with Odd. We flew off, heading towards the enemy. They must've sensed us coming because they turned and fired at us. I spun around, did a few barrel rolls, materialized my guns and fired at the two trantulas. The green beams hit the Eye of XANA and they exploded. Odd fired laser arrows repeatedly, then got shot in the shoulder, then the leg and he was soon devirtualized.  
"Odd!" Aelita cried, piloted the Overboard now, and avenged him with an energy field.  
Ulrich took out the last Trantula by sacrificing his Overbike. The Overbike rammed into the Trantula and fell over a cliff, descending into the digital sea. Dan fired his gun at my Overboard, and his aim was incredibly accurate as it devirtualized and I fell. However, I only fell for a moment because then I was hovering in air. I looked around befuddled then realized it was the pack on my back. It was a booster that was keeping my aloft.  
"Cool! I can fly!"  
"I added that for you since you like to be in the air a lot. You can fly for three minutes until the booster runs out of power. I'm going to upgrade it later," Jeremy explained.  
"Nice," I said as I lowered myself to the ground.

I looked up just in time to dodge his sword by ducking, then jumping back a few feet as his sword slammed into the ground, leaving a huge crack. I straightened myself and pulled out my sword on my right hip, swinging it around.  
"You up for a sword fight, little bro?"  
He growled and swung his sword down as I slashed mine horizontally. We clashed for a while until he began pushing me back. I struggled for a moment, then pulled away and performed two back flips as he slashed at me again. He swung again and I ducked, this time pulled out my sword on my left hip with my left hand and slashed his forearm, knocking the sword out of his hands. Then I sunk low and swiped his feet. He hit the floor and I jumped up, swinging my sword down. He brought up his left arm and brushed off my attack, then kicked me in the stomach hard, sending me back a few feet, and fired his gun.

Three green beams hit me in the chest and I cringed. Jeremy informed me that I had twenty life points left. Looking to my left, I saw Ulrich was having some trouble with William. I ran over to try and help him, but there was a weird, sort of tingling feeling and I heard the blast of his cannon being fired. I saw it coming and leaped to the side, then called out my teammates name. He noticed just in time and did a backflip. I turned back and faced him.  
"You're fighting me," he growled.  
I resheathed my swords, and pulled out my boomerang on my left shoulder, momentarily forgetting I had two, and used that as a knife. He brought up his shield and I hit that instead of his smug face. I jumped back, pulled out both my boomerangs and threw them at him. He deflected them both with his left arm and I realized he had some kind of gauntlet, similar to William's. I continued to battle with Dan, to a point where he knocked away both my swords.

He smirked at me and swung his sword. I ducked, moving into his attack, and kicked him into the air, the fired at him multiple times with me guns. All the shots hit him and he was soon defeated. Then, I ran over to help Ulrich, throwing both my boomerangs at William. He deflected them both, then slashed his sword. A disc-shaped blast flew towards me. I leaped over it, pulled out my sword and threw it at him. He moved his head to the side, avoiding it, but was soon stabbed in the chest by Ulrich's saber. As he dissipated, Ulrich grabbed my sword and threw it towards me. I caught it and placed it back in its hilt.  
"Thanks," Ulrich said.  
"Anytime," I replied, smiling.  
"Nice work, guys," Jeremy told us. "I'll bring you guys to Sector 5 so we can get the Skid."

Aelita traveled swiftly through the Digital Sea and we ended up in the Forest Replica. Aelita drove the Skid over to a way tower and Jeremy connected the Skid to the tower that was now under his control.  
"Two of you need to stay here in case the Skid gets attacked," he informed us.  
"I'll stay," Ulrich volunteered.  
"Me too," Yumi said.  
"Okay, Dialla, Aelita, get ready. Here we go," Jeremy said. "Teleportation!"

Then, as if we were being virtualized, Aelita and I dissapeared from the Skid.


	15. Note to Reader: Never Drive on Ice

Here's chapter 15! According to 13MoonGoddess13, I am 'abusing the lines like a mother,' and should 'only use them for time skips and such'. Personally, I don't think it matters, but I decided not to use the lines as much this chapter. Just to see how it looks. If I like it, I'll keep it that way. If not, I'll go back to my original syle. Now that the irrelevant stuff is done, please enjoy and review!

* * *

The first thing I noticed was that it was night time, which was strange because it was morning back at the factory. Aelita and I were materialized into the air, dropping and landing on our feet. We looked around, waiting for our eyes to adjust to the darkness.

"It worked Jeremy, we're here," I told him, "In some kind of forest."

"And it's night time here," Aelita added.

"I see, you're in a different time zone," There was a pause. "You're in the Amazon forest."

"Cool, so, uh, now what?" I inquired.

"Try and find some kind of building or laboratory. The supercomputer should be in there," he suggested.

"How are we gonna find anything here? It's pitch black!" I exclaimed.

"Found it," Aelita said.

I looked and saw her standing next to a tree, pointing to a very-well lit up building a couple meters away from us.

"Oh. Well, let's go!" I cried as we rushed towards the building, silently but stealthily.

When we reached the door, we were shimming in on both sides. I materialized both my guns as the door swished open. I peered in then stepped inside cautiously, both my guns out and ready. When no one was in sight, Aelita followed me. After searching the building for a while, we ended up with two paths to take.

"Jeremy, do you have any idea where the supercomputer is?" I asked.

"I'm searching right now, but it may take some time," he answered.

"Okay, let's play a game," I said.

Since I didn't have a coin, I stuck with eenie-meanie-minie-moe in order to decide which path to take. Jeremy scolded me and Aelita was amused. I landed on the left path, so we rushed down that hall way. Hearing footsteps other than our own, we panicked. Aelita dragged me into a room and the door swished shut. We waited a moment before opening the door and stepping outside. We continued down the hallway and entered another room. We found no supercomputer, instead, we found a large container full of what appeared to be mechanical spiders. I wrinkled my nose in disgust and there was a groan behind us.

We whirled around and I pulled out my guns, aiming at our bald enemy. I fired at him but to my surprise, he caught the beams and sent them back at me. The hit me in the chest and I flew into a wall. The part that got hit was all fuzzy, but it still hurt.

"That is so unfair," I grumbled.

He closed in on me but was blasted out the door by Aelita's energy field. Thanking her, I stood up and looked at the unconscious man on the floor. There was some kind of closet or storage room to the left, so in he went and we continued our search for the supercomputer.

"Hurry it up you guys," Jeremy commanded. "Ulrich and Yumi are having a tough time with some Trantulas."

"It'd be easier if you had the coordinates," I said, harsher than I meant to.

"I've almost got them..... Got it! Take the next corridor on your left,"

"On it," I said and sauntered quickly down the hall.

After minutes of following his directions, we came upon a door, which swished open as we zoomed in. Inside, was a large computer. We fired at it, but a deflector appeared and our attacks were futile.

"Jeremy, there's some kind of force field," Aelita told him. "We can't destroy the supercomputer."

"There has to be some kind of projection or something. Aha! I find it! There's a small box in the left corner of the supercomputer."

I looked towards my left and there was a decent size box. I fired at it a few times and after the fourth shot, it was destroyed.

"Awesome! Now to destroy the supercomputer," I said.

I raised my gun at the supercomputer, but suddenly, Aelita and I were rematerialized.

I appeared in the scanner, pouting. Yumi and Ulrich were there and they explained to us why we were rematerialized. We stepped in the elevator and went up into the computer room. Once Jeremy finished explaining, my phone rang. I was to babysit my 'brother' for the night and that my mom would drive me home tomorrow. Sighing, I repeated the conversation to my friends.

"Shouldn't 'Dan' be able to stay home by himself?" Odd questioned.

"Ordinarily, yes, but he's a bit of a pyro, so I have to make sure he stays away from anything that could explode or start a fire," I said glumly. "Anyway, I'll see you tomorrow."

Unfortunately, I had no idea what trouble faced me the following morning.

* * *

After sleeping in a little later, my mom woke me up for breakfast, which consisted of eggs, toast and bacon. Once I finished, I got changed, brushed my teeth and l cimbed into my mom's silver minivan. My mom was a very cautious driver. She never talked on the phone and never fiddled with the radio. Whenever she talked, she never looked at the person, she always kept her eyes locked onto the road, preparing herself for the slightest case of an accident. However, I don't think she was prepared for this.

It was a little icy out, due to the snow the day before. Said ice, was actually the cause of a red truck slamming into our car. And we reacted just like those little crash dummies would. The truck came first, hitting the very front of our car. At 200 mph, the air bags hurt as we were flung forward into the protective bag, scratching our faces. We only had a few seconds of hesitation, checking each other if we were fine, before a white sedan slammed into the right side of the car. My side. The glass shattered as I screamed, cutting my face and forearms. Suddenly, the cars behind slammed into the rear end of our car and I was thrown forward. My airbag had decreased slightly so my head smacked off the dash board. I thought I heard a snap but I couldn't tell due to all the pain I was experiencing. So much pain, that I didn't even notice I was bleeding until I felt a liquid begin to pour down my right temple and over my eye, which I shut. I also saw blood on then entire right side of my body. The last image I noticed, was my mother, tears in her eyes, shaking me hysterically.

Yumi's POV

I was walking to school with my black bag slung over my shoulder. It was about 7:45 and I was walking down a street when I heard the screeching of tires and collisions of metal against metal a few miles away from me. Looking up, I saw a silver mini van, a red truck, a white sedan and other cars all together in a big clump. Curiosity overwhelming me, I strode towards the accident. By the time I reached the spot, the ambulance had arrived and most of the victims had been strapped aboard. They were putting the last one it as I began to turn away until I looked at the patient. She was a girl, perhaps a year younger me, with brown hair and blood splattering her face and clothes. I recognized her as my friend, Dialla Reinhart. She was placed into the van and the sirens slowly faded away as the ambulance disappeared.

I sprinted as fast as I could to the Kadic Academy. Thankfully, I reached it before the start of first period so I was able to catch up with my friends.

"Guys!" I called, running to them.

"Yumi? Hey, what's wrong?" Jeremy questioned.

I leaned my hands on my knees, catching my breath.

"Car accident.... Dialla is....."

Ulrich put the words together quickly. "Dialla's in a car accident?!"

"_Was_," I corrected. "But she's in the hospital now."

"Are you sure?" Aelita asked.

I nodded. "I just saw the crash as I was walking to school."

Ulrich's face drained of color as he began to be consumed with worry for her friend.

"The hospital's not that far from here," Odd noted. "We can try and see her during lunch."

We nodded and the bell rang, sending us off to our different classes.

Ulrich's POV

After Yumi told us what happened to Dialla, I couldn't stop thinking about her. I kept seeing images of her covered in blood, hey dying, or me being there and not being able to help. I flinched, and shook my head vigorously. My pink-haired friend placed her hand comfortingly on mine and asked if I was alright; I nodded.

"Don't worry," she said quietly. "There's only a few minutes left of class, then we can go see her."

I thanked her and the bell rang moments later. The four of us got out of our chairs and left the classroom as quickly as possible.

We met Yumi at the gates of the Kadic Academy and ran as fast as we could to the hospital in the center of town.

_Dialla,_ I thought. _You better be alright._


	16. It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

Here's Chapter 16! Please review and enjoy and I'll try to increase the updates.

* * *

Dialla's POV

Being in a hospital after a serious car accident wouldn't be that bad for someone who was normal. However, I'm not normal. Well, I am, but I save the world and most teenagers my age don't do that. Although I was partially in a coma for most of the time, I knew it would be a pain. I was worring about my mother and my friends. My mother because she was also injured, probably not as bad as me, and my friends who cared for me deeply, who probably had know idea where I was.

Distinctly, in that group of friends, Ulrich.

We weren't going out, but we were pretty close, considering we confessed our feelings for each other the day before. According to my nurse, who's name I learned was Emily, my right arm was broken, and already in a cast, as well as two of my ribs on the right side of my chest, a fractured wrist, slight cracks in my skull and I had lost a lot of blood. However, I had been given transfusions, so I was all set for the time being. When I asked about my mother, she said she had a few serious wounds and bruises but nothing too critical. She said I would have to stay in the hospital for two to four weeks. That pissed me off, yet I couldn't show it, so I slept for a few more hours.

"Is she asleep?" a quiet voice said.

My eyes fluttered open as I registered the voice. My vision was a little blurry, but once it cleared, I saw the faces of all my friends.

"Guys," I whispered, "What are you doing here?"

My friends faced me and surrounded the bed. On my right, were Ulrich, Odd and Yumi. My left, were Aelita and Jeremy. They all had similar looks of concern and worry, but Ulrich's was the worse. Not that I blame him.

"I saw the accident on my way to school," Yumi explained, "And we wanted to see you."

"You guys are the best," I said, doing my best to smile, despite the excruciating pain in the entire right side of my body.

After noticing my cast, they were all eager to sign it. Once they finished, I noticed Jeremy had a very peculiar look on his face.

"I know what your thinking, but don't do it," I said.

He looked at me shocked and I continued. "Don't waste a return to the past on me. Four weeks will go by like that." I snapped my left fingers.

"But, what if XANA attacks you while your in the hospital?"

He got me there. If XANA were to attack me, I'd be done for.

"I don't want XANA to get stronger, just for me to get better. It's not life threatening and XANA's been pretty quiet lately. I'll be okay."

He looked like he wanted to argue, but he let the matter drop.

After conversing with my friends, I asked if I could talk to Yumi alone. They all had curious looks, but left. Yumi asked me what was wrong and I hesitated for a moment.

"What... What do you think of Ulrich?" I asked finally.

"Ulrich? He's a nice guy. Why?"

"I, uh, well... I really like him... and I think he likes me too. Odd told me how you and Ulrich had a thing so I... I wanted to find out if you still had feelings for him."

Her cheeks were a light pink, but she relaxed herself and smiled.

"It's true... That Ulrich and I were together once, but that was a long time ago. We both decided it was better if we stayed friends,"

I had a confused and surprised look on my face; she laughed.

"You should see your face," she joked, then grew serious. "Ulrich is like a brother. He's loyal, caring and very protective. And, I know he likes you, because he told me so."

My cheeks burned as she continued.

"You should tell him how you feel," she said. "You two'll make a cute couple. And, you'll drive Sissi nuts."

I laughed and that, then cringed as my ribs throbbed. Yumi placed her hand gently on my shoulder, questioning me if I was alright. I nodded and smiled.

"Thank you, Yumi,"

She smiled back. "You're welcome."

The door opened and Jeremy announced that William and Dan were attacking the Skid. Yumi stood up, said good bye and I was alone was again.

Sighing deeply, I thought over the conversation that had happened minutes ago. After about ten minutes, Emily came back in and gave me some pain meds, so I was immediately drowsy and fell asleep again. When I awoke later, Emily offered to get me some food. I agreed, seeing as I had nothing better to do. She disappeared and my phone vibrated on the table next to me. I reached over and grabbed it. It was a text message from Alex.

_How you doing?_ It read. _I heard you were in a car wreck. You ok?_

"Gossip sure spreads fast," I mumbled, but quickly replied, telling him how badly I was injured and how long I would be in the hospital.

_Ooh. Rough. I'll come visit you after school. Okay?_

_Okay._

Emily came back with a plate full on snacks and some fruit. I munched on an apple, bored, while she sat down and decided to tell me a little bit about herself. I learned that her and I were alike, minus the whole saving-the-world-from-a-computer-monster-thing.

As promised, right after school, Alex visited me at the hospital. He questioned me where my friends were and I explained that they had already stopped by. He nodded and signed my cast, adding a little smiley face. Over an hour had passed and he made me laugh and smile the whole time. And, although he was sweet, funny and caring, I had to tell him that I chose Ulrich.

"Hey, Alex? I need to tell you something."

"Hm? Well, go ahead. What is it?"

I took a deep breath. "I choose Ulrich. He's the one I want to be with."

There was a long period of silence before he spoke. "I see. Is that your final decision?"

I nodded. "I'm sorry. There's just something about Ulrich, something special, that I really like."

"I understand," he stood up but I grabbed his hand.

He was jerked to a stop and he looked back at me.

"I'm not done yet." I said, smiling slightly.

He forced a smile and sat down.

"You are my best friend and I don't want to lose you just because I'm with Ulrich,"

He placed his hand on my good one. "You don't have to worry. I'm not gonna let something stupid reck our friendship."

"Really?"

"Course not."

Emily came in and told him that visiting hours were over. Quickly pecking his cheek, I smiled as he blushed, waved, then left.

* * *

Two of the four weeks had gone by and my strength was recovering rapidly. My ribs had just about healed, and I was able to walk as long as I had someone close by if I were to fall. However, the doctor insisted I stay a few more days. Ulrich visited me whenever he could and helped me out a lot. It was a few days away from Christmas when I was finally let out of the hospital. I still had on my cast which was completely covered in signatures and drawings. Normally, I would be happy, but Christmas was in five days and I had to buy presents for my family and friends. And, as much as I wish we were, teenagers aren't exactly made out of money. And being in the hospital for two weeks didn't help either. However, thanks to health insurance, some company my mom works for paid for the hospital bill, so my mom gave me $180 to spend for presents. Which meant twenty dollars for everyone. Ulrich, Odd, Yumi, Aelita, Jeremy, Alex, 'Dan' and my parents. This is gonna be hard.

I was really glad it was Saturday because there are no afternoon classes, so I used my time wisely and went straight to the mall. Unsure exactly of what to get for my friends, I got them something based on what they like. For Odd, since he's always either complaining he's hungry or Kiwi, I bought him a large bag of chips and a dog toy. For Yumi, I knew she was interested in Japanese stuff, and there was a beautiful white fan with Japanese writing and Sakura petals on. Giggling at the irony, I bought that for her. For Aelita, I bought her a pink necklace, since everything she had was, well, _pink_.

Next was the brains of the group, Jeremy. He was the second hardest to think of, but in the end, I bought some software that was supposed to debug any program. I figured it might help the supercomputer. For Alex, he told me once he was a fan of handball, so I bought him a handball. 'Dan' had been bugging me about some ninja video game he wanted, so I got that. My mom was a sucker for jewlery, and my dad liked tools so they were all set.

Last, but not least, Ulrich.

He loved soccer, the Subsonics and Pencak Silat. So many to choose from. I figured getting a soccer ball for him would be lame, so I focused on the Subsonics and Pencak Silat. I found there latest CD and paid for that, and I was just pennies short from a Pencak Silat book of techniques. Fortunately for me, the cashier let me off the hook since it was Christmas. I thanked her and left to get the presents wrapped. Once the presents were wrapped, I was able to breath easy until Christmas. Which came quicker than I expected. We were all hanging out in Einstein's room, waiting for Ulrich so we could all exchange presents together. My cast was gone and it felt so good to move my right arm again.

After a half hour of waiting, Ulrich arrived with four packages in his hand. Before I could even ask why he had only four, he explained that his last present- mine- was going to be a surprise for when we would be alone. I raised an eyebrow, but decided to play along. We all exchanged our gifts - with the exception of Ulrich and I - and opened them simultaneously. From Aelita, I got a doll, Jeremy gave me a book on computers, since I was starting to become interested in them. According to Yumi, in Japan, you don't open presents in front of the person who gave it to you, so her present was also going to be a surprise.

"Is this from the cafeteria?" I questioned.

He nodded. "Yep! You like it?"

"Uh, sure," I said, twirling the fork in my hand, then placing it back in the small box.

I looked up and Ulrich gestured with me to come with him. I stood up and followed him. It was snowing outside, and only a little bit cold. Nonetheless, I shivered, even with my black hoodie and sweatpants on. Ulrich wrapped his arm around my shoulders and pulled me close to him. Blood burned my cheeks a little, but I managed to stay calm as he led me to the park. Walking through the snow, he walked me towards a tree then stopped.

It was a rather large tree, decorated with all sorts of lights, little balls and dolls. I looked up at the branch we were standing under and my blushed deepened.

"Misletoe," I whispered.

He smiled and his hands slipped around my waist as he pulled me even closer, so his lips could finally meet mine. I closed my eyes and immediately kissed back, wrapping my shivering arms around his warm neck. His shuddered at the touch and I giggled, pulling away. I reached into my sweatshirt pocket and pulled out a medium sized box ( it's a size large. I love huge sweatshirts!).

"Here," I said, handing him the box.

Ulrich took the box and he grabbed my hand, placed something in it, then folded it shut.

I looked up at him and he nodded at me to open my hand. I did so, and there was a heart-shaped locket. After looking at him again, I opened the locket. Inside was a picture of him on the left, and on the right was some writing. It said "I love you, Ulrich". I gasped softly and he embraced me, holding me tightly with passion.


	17. Monster Movie Attack

Here is chapter 17! Please enjoy and review!! XD

* * *

"See you later, Dialla!" my mom called, shutting the front door.

"Goodbye! Have fun on your trip!" I hollered, then waited for the door to shut. "YES!! FREE AT LAST!!"

Why am I shouting, you ask? Because, I, Dialla Reinhart, had managed to cunningly convince my parents to take a week vacation for Christmas vacation! Which meant, my friends and I had a free house for a week! I _so _rock. Dressed in a black sweatshirt and gray baggy pants, I watched from the window as my parents loaded their luggage into the yellow car. After the taxi pulled away from my street, I rushed to the nearest phone to dial my friends. But, before I could, my own phone rang. Skidding so a stop, nearly sliding to the wall in the process, I answered my phone.

"Hello? Jeremy?"

"Hi, Dialla," he said rather quickly. "Can you come to the factory?"

"Oh, I'm fine thanks for asking," I said.

"Huh? Oh, sorry, how-"

"Forget it. I'm on my way." I quickly shut my phone and headed toward the front door. "Dan, I'm going out! Try not to burn down the house!"

I heard a soft reply then left.

"XANA on the move again?" I guessed, skating smoothly through the sewers.

"Actually, no," he said. "We discovered a few more replicas that we need to destroy."

"Really? What replicas?"

"We still have the forest replica to destroy and we just found a replica of sector 5," Aelita answered.

I nodded and we reached the end of the tunnel, climbed on the latter and ran to the factory. There, we met Ulrich, Odd and Yumi, who joined Aelita and I in the elevator while Jeremy went over to his usual spot at the computer. Ulrich and Odd ran out of the elevator once it opened and stopped in front of two scanners. They bowed and extended their arms as Yumi and Aelita walked forward.

"Ladies," they said in a butler-like voice.

As the two girls disappeared in the scanners, I cleared my throat.

"_Ahem_,"

They quickly rushed to the last scanner and repeated the same gesture.

"Our apologize, ma'dam," They said, causing me to laugh as I stepped in the scanner.

"_Virtulalization!"_

I landed in Sector 5 with Yumi and Aelita and seconds later, Ulrich and Odd appeared. We took the elevator to the Skid hanger and we dove into the Digital Sea. It was nice and quiet, until the sea turned from its beautiful blue to an ugly red.

"Guys, head's up, you got three sharks," Jeremy informed us.

"Releasing NavSkids," Aelita announced.

"Woo hoo! Time for some action!" Odd exclaimed.

"This should be fun!"

Aelita release our Skids and we traveled around. Being my first time using the NavSkid in battle, I was a little rusty and got hit by a torpedo. I shrieked slightly while my shield dropped from 100 to 80. However, I wasn't alone so the shark was soon hit by a torpedo shot from Odd's NavSkid and was blown away.

"Thanks Odd,"

"Being out for two weeks must've made you rusty, huh, D?" he said.

I laughed. "I guess so."

Ulrich and Yumi took care of the other sharks and as the Digital Sea turned back to blue, on its own, my NavSkid returned to the Skid. Aelita continued her route to our destination. We reached the Replika and went inside. We rose from the sea of the Forest Replica and Jeremy activated a tower. While the tower's aura went from blue to green, Aelita hooked up the Skid.

"Ok, who wants to go to Earth?" Jeremy questioned.

"I'll go," Aelita suggested.

"Me too!" Odd chimed.

"Alright, you guys ready?" he asked. "Teleportation."

While Odd and Aelita disappeared from the Skid, Ulrich, Yumi and I remained there, in case XANA were to send some enemies.

Not fifteen minutes after their teleportation, Jeremy informed us that William, Dan and some monsters were coming. He energized us onto Lyoko and I materialized my guns, bracing myself for the imminent attack. Up ahead, I saw William and Dan riding on Trantulas. A red beam was fired at me and I blocked it easily with my shield.

"I may have been out for two weeks, but I'm not gonna get hit by a laser that's a mile away," I said cockily.

Though I couldn't hear it, I had a feeling Dan was growling angrily, because he suddenly floated off the Trantula and into the air as he rocketed his way towards me.

"He can fly?!" I yelped. "Since when?!"

No one had time to answer since he fired his gun rapidly at all three of us. I did a few backhand springs, dodging the lasers, but I got hit in the side by a stray beam. I hit the ground and slid a few feet, laying there as my lifepoints decreased.

Then I got to my feet and quickly leaped into the air, activating my booster. Jeremy reminded me that I only had three minutes, but I ignored him and flew towards my brother while my friends handled the monsters below. I pulled out my sword on my left hip with my right hand and clashed with his large one. He quickly pulled away, leaving no time for me to react, and kicked me in the stomach. I descended rather quickly but used my booster to regain altitude. We flew at each other and clashed swords, then flew again and our swords connected with each others shield.

We struggled for a moment before we both pulled away. He threw his shield then fired gun at the shield. The green ray of light ricocheted from his sheild and struck me in my left shoulder. I winced at the pain, but kept my eyes on Dan as he flew after me. He fired once, then swung his sword up diagonally. I ducked, then swung my sword and slashed his shoulder, then kicked him in the back, sending him down onto the ground. I flew down after him, slashing my sword, but he flew back into the air. I flew back after him and Jeremy told me I had two minutes left. Below me, I saw Ulrich was having some trouble with William. I flew toward them, aiming my guns at William, but Dan fired at me from behind. One of his shots hit my booster and it was devirtualized. Flinching, I fell fast and hit the virtual floor hard. On top of that, both my guns flew from my hands, sliding on the ground away from me.

Seconds later, they were destroyed by a large, whiteish blue beam with red in the middle. Cursing, I looked up, gasped and quickly rolled out of the way as his sword plunged into the ground where I was. Getting to my feet, I was inches from Dan's face. I noticed that his eyes had no pupil as he kicked me hard in the stomach. When I stumbled back, I realized quickly that I was on the edge of the sector. I managed to regain my balance, but when I looked ahead, Dan was rushing me with his sword. I was able to pull mine out and stab him in the shoulder while he stabbed me in the chest. I was devirtualized while he dissipated into the ground. I appeared in the scanner, sitting, doubled over in pain.

"Guess it's a tie," I wheezed, "For now."

After I regained my strength, Ulrich appeared in the scanner. He walked out calmly, not even stumbling. I narrowed my eyes at him, envious on how he wasn't exhausted like I was. He laughed at my face and told me that I would get used to it. We took the elevator up to the lab where Jeremy sat in his chair, typing angrily away on the keyboard. As we approached him, I heard Odd shout that he had found the supercomputer.

"Well, hurry up and destroy it! Yumi just got devirtualized so there's no one to guard the Skid!" Jeremy barked.

While Odd whined, Ulrich and I laughed. The elevator opened again and Yumi joined us over by the computer. A few minutes passed and soon Odd destroyed the supercomputer. Jeremy brought them back to the Skid and they emerged into the Digital Sea. Aelita sent us a visual so we could watch as the large orb exploded.

As shards of debris drifted throughout the endless network, I noticed a white ray of light shoot out from the middle of the mess.

"Hey, what's that?" I questioned.

"What's what?" Yumi asked.

"There was a white ray of light earlier," I said, pointing to the screen. "See? There it is!"

The pale light flew passed the screen and was soon out of sight.

"I saw it too, Jeremy," Aelita backed me up. "What do you think it is?"

"I'm not sure," Einstein replied, befuddled. "I'll try and do some research on it. But for now, come back to Lyoko, the Skid is starting to lose power."

"Roger that," Aelita obeyed and soon she and Odd were with us in the factory.

"Do you think it could've been Franz Hopper?" Ulrich inquired.

Jeremy shook his head. "No, it was a different signature than Franz Hopper's. I'm not sure who..." His voice trailed off until his eyes lit up abruptly and he started typing on the computer.

"What is it?" Aelita wondered.

"I'm trying to find out if it's..." he paused.

I got his hint immediately as my heart sank into my stomach. "My father?"

Jeremy nodded and continued typing. "Any idea how long it will take?"

"I'm not sure, but I'll keep working on it, that's for sure," he promised me.

While Jeremy continued working, there was an awkward silence. To break it, Odd suggests that we went out for some food (no surprise). Jeremy and Aelita stayed behind to work while the four of us went to the closets pizza store. We ordered a large pizza half cheese and half pepperoni. We found a store a couple minutes away from the factory and ate outside, despite the cold. As we were eating, my friends did everything they could to cheer me up and get my mind off my father.

It worked, surpisingly, and that's probably because Odd was making me laugh. A half an hour passed and I stood up just to look for a bathroom and ended up getting tackled by a curly red head screaming my name. I hit the cement floor hard, but luckily there was some snow on it so it didn't hurt that much. My friends got up concerned and made there way to me while I stared utterly appalled at the stranger. At first, I didn't know who the girl was, but when she spoke six words I recognized her immediately.

"I've missed you _so _much, Dialla!" It was my friend Missy from Florida.

"Missy?! Hi! Um, can you get off? You're kinda crushing me," I said weakly.

"Oh! Sorry!" She apologized and quickly got off.

Odd and Yumi helped me to my feet while I brushed off the snow on my body.

"Guys, this is my friend Missy Robinson, from Florida. Missy, these are my friends Ulrich, Odd and Yumi."

"Hello," they replied.

"Hi, there," Missy said.

"So, Missy, what are you doing here in France?" I asked, turning to my friend.

"It's Christmas break in Florida, so I thought I'd come see you! I can stay for three days! Isn't that great?! Is it okay if I stay at your house? My things are already there. This is so fun!!" She exclaimed and trapped me in a bear hug.

"Uh, yeah. Real great," I gasped.

Missy received the hint that I was having trouble breathing and released me. "Come on! Aren't you gonna show me around town?"

"Uh, well, I..." I glanced at my friends while deciding on what I should do.

They gestured me to go with her and I mouthed "See you later" and turned to Missy.

"Come on, let's go," I said.

I grabbed her arm and dragged her around as much of France as I could, and at the same time, catching up on old times. I realized while we talked that Missy hadn't changed a bit since I left. Clumsy, but fun and loyal. After about an hour or so, the sun was starting to set so I let Missy stay at my house. There, she met Dan, who was on his butt watching cartoons. When we were up in my room, getting her bags un-packed, she announced that Dan seemed different. I lied smoothly then quickly changed the subject to something irrelevant.

* * *

Since tomorrow was Sunday, that meant no classes, so we could stay up late. All I know is we stayed up until at least three in the morning before I passed out from fatigue. I awoke later around 11:30, rested and cheerful. I walked into the guest room where Missy lay, and nearly laughed at the sight. Her arms were above her head and one leg wasn't even under the covers. The blankets and sheets were askew over the bed and floor. I chuckled and walked over to her.

"Missy.... Wake up, Missy," when she didn't respond, I shrugged my shoulders and shoved her off of the bed.

She hit the floor with a thud and sat up quickly, groaning in pain. "What the hell was that for?"

I held up a newspaper in her face. On it was a movie circled in black sharpie. It was an alien horror movie.

"Let's see this today at 12:30," I ordered.

"Ooh! Horror movie! Awesome!" she cried ecstatically, leaping to her feet.

After quickly making lunch and getting dressed we made our way to the theatre. Since I always forget to put my phone off during movies, I decided to leave it at home. Missy brought her, but kept it on silent. Since Missy was the guest, I told her it was my treat. She argued for a moment, then finally agreed. We got there as the previews started, so we took the time to get our snacks and drinks. After paying, we walked into the theatre and took our seats.

Odd's POV

Ulrich's phone ringing snapped me out of my dream about Sissi being a giant french fry and trying to eat me.

"Jeremy, it's Sunday," he complained, then there was a paused. "Okay... Be right there."

I sighed and sat up, sending Kiwi flying off my back. He fell on the floor and whimpered.

"Oh, I'm sorry, my little diggity dog," I said and scratched his head.

"Jeremy wants us to head to the factory," Ulrich explained.

I nodded, quickly got changed and headed to the factory with my brown haired best friend.

After Einstein finished explaining something intelligent, I gave him my 'math stare'. A blank stare which means I didn't understand a word he just said. He sighed aggravated and Aelita quickly translated for me.

"So, what your saying is, that white ray thingy really is Dialla's father?" I inquired.

"It's just a theory, but I need to test it out first," he noticed Dialla wasn't with us. "Where is she anyway? Didn't you call her?"

"She didn't answer her phone," Ulrich replied.

"How strange..." Yumi mused.

The supercomputer began beeping abruptly, telling us there was an activated tower. "Uh-oh, XANA's on the move again. Get to the scanners! I'll try and call Dialla again." Jeremy ordered.

"Right," we said and stepped into the elevator.

Dialla's POV

I got up to go the bathroom during the movie. For a horror movie, it wasn't that scary. But that was probably because we were watching it during the day. At night, it would've been a different story. When I got back to the theatre, the screen became engulfed with some sort of black smoke. The screen became all fuzzy and suddenly, the alien creature stepped _out _of the film. I narrowed my eyes in an are-you-kidding-me face and ran up the stairs towards Missy.

"Missy, we've got to get out of here, now!" I said quickly.

"Why? The movie's getting good! You never said it was 3D!" she whispered excited.

"It's not 3D!" Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the monster running towards us. "Look, I don't have time to explain! We have to get--"

My sentence was cut off as a tentacle hit me in the side of my face, sending me flying about ten feet back. Missy screamed as I hit the wall, uttering a loud 'Ow!' and moaning as I slumped down. I tasted blood in my cheek and I sat there dazed for a moment untill I heard the growl of the monster. I struggled to get to my feet, but I buckled over in the sudden pain. The monster approached, it's mouth open and drooling. It raised its tentacles and I started to crawl away. Fortunately, Missy rushed to my rescue because she leaped over a few seats to reach me. She grabbed my forearm and started running.

The other people in the theatre realized what was happening and started running around screaming. We took this chaotic opportunity to run for it. Somehow, we managed to lose the monster, for now at least. We took refuge in a storage closet for now. Missy was on the verge of being hysterical, and I did my best to console her. It worked, temporarily. I pressed my ear against the door and waited. When I didn't hear anything, I turned to my scared friend.

"You're phone, give it to me," I breathed.

She reached into her jean pocket and her face drained off color. "I-I must've dropped it when I was jumping over the seats."

I cursed and opened the door just enough so I could see. When I noted that the coast was clear, I told Missy to go hide in the woman's bathroom as soon as I ran off.

"W-Where are you gonna go? Don't leave me!" she cried and I covered her mouth.

"Ssh! I'm not gonna leave you!" I assured her quickly. "I'm just going to see if I can find a phone."

"To call 911?" she hoped.

"Uh, sure?" I said half-heartidly. "Just go when I say '3' okay?"

She nodded.

I stood up. "1."

She stood up as well. I got into a fighting stance. "2."

I kicked the door with all my might. "3!"

We took off running in different directions. She went towards the bathroom while I went to the theatres. I was hoping that karma would be nice for me for once and let me escape a XANA attack without too much trouble. And of course karma is a bitch. I ran into the theatre we were in as quietly as I could. I searched all of the aisle and finally found her phone. I cheered mentally and began dialling Jeremy when a whiteish green goop drooped down onto my forehead from above.

My shoulders sank as my eyes narrowed. I looked up and the alien was hanging from above. I took off sprinting as the creature came down after me. The chase begins!


	18. Monster Movie Attack Part 2

I sprinted as fast as I could out of the theatre, and I was grateful that the creature was a slow runner. I thought about runner to the bathroom, but when I turned around, I was still in the monster's sight. Increasing my speed, I managed to duck around a tight corner. After waiting a few minutes to catch my breath, I peeked around the corner. As soon as I did, I wished I hadn't. The monsters slimy green eyes locked with mine and a tentacle shot out and smacked me square in the nose. I went flying backwards and slammed into a wall. Moaning, I slumped down and hit the floor. Miraculously I managed to keep hold of the cell phone. Not a second after that, a hand appeared and grabbed my shoulder and dragged me away moments before the monster showed up.

"Ohmigod! Dialla! Are you alright?" Missy questioned. "Your nose is bleeding."

Dazed, I reached up to my nose. Sure enough my fingers were covered with an oozy red liquid.

"I'll be right back. There's a medical kit in here," she told me and disappeared in the capacious bathroom.

Using toilet paper, I did my best to stop the bleeding until she returned. She came back with a large kit full of medicine, bandages, rubbing alcohol etc. Pretty much everything for any kind of injury. She took out a piece of cloth and handed it to me. I placed it on my nose and applied a little bit of pressure. When I titled my head back, she chided me and told me to lean forward.

I did so and asked her how she knew that.

"Don't you remember? I told you I want to be a nurse," she said. "You need to know all sorts of stuff."

I smiled and thanked her. After about five minutes, I removed the cloth and she checked my nose.

"It looks alright," she muttered. "But we better be careful." She noticed the phone in my hand. "You got it! Great! Now we can call 911."

"I've got a better idea," I said and quickly dialled Jeremy's number.

"Hello? Who is this?" Jeremy answered after the second ring.

"Jeremy! Oh, thank God you answered!"

"Dialla? What are you-"

"Listen, Missy and I are at the movies and XANA's launched an attack."

"Yeah, I know. We're on our way to the factory."

"Well, hurry up! XANA's possed an alien monster and he's not exactly happy to see us."

"Okay, we're at the factory. Hang in there."

"Easy for you to say." I grunted and hung up.

Missy stared at me like I was crazy and snatched the phone from my hand. She quickly dialled 911 and explained the situation. While she expained, I caught sight of the time from her watch. The monster hadn't bothered us in ten minutes.

_Something's not right. The thing is possessed by XANA it should've found us by now. Unless..._

I gasped. "Jeremy!"

I snatched the phone from my bewildered friend and dialled Jeremy again.

"Is something wrong, Dialla?"

"I think XANA might've sent the monster after you," I explained quickly. "See if you can stall the elevator until I get there. I'll be there as soon as I can."

"Got it," he said and hung up.

"How do you plan to escape?" Missy asked.

"_We_," I corrected. "You're coming with me."

Her mouth dropped and I peeked out the door briefly. From what I could see, the alien was no where in sight. I turned back to her, looking up as I did. I saw an air vent and slowly, a smile crept on my face.

"Ugh! You've gained a few pounds, there, Missyboo," I chuckled while I hoisted her up into the shaft.

Her cheeks flushed pink. "S-shut up!"

"Relax! I'm kidding!" I said and extended my hand.

She grabbed and pulled me up with her."Which way do we go?"

I looked between the right and left and eventually chose right. We climbed down the vent and there was a small gate that led to freedom. Missy, who was in front, tried to push it but failed. I ordered her to move and gave it one hard kick. The gate flew out of its hinges and landed on the soft grass. We crawled out and took in a deep breath of air.

I looked at the time and it had been five minutes since I warned Jeremy. If the monster was heading for the factory, it would probably be getting there soon. I noted that the factory was a ten minute car drive from here. I looked around for any kind of transport and made do with a bike. I climbed on while Missy stood on the back pegs. I took off, pedalling as fast as I could to the factory.

Jeremy's POV

Minutes after Dialla's warning, enemies appeared on the screen. William, Dan, a few Trantulas and some Bloks. I warned the others of the attack and told them to make it fast. While they did their best battling, I activated all the cameras in the factory. I checked them and arriving at the factory now was a large green alien with tentacles.

"Oh no you don't," I said and quickly delayed the elevator.

I smiled to myself, glad that my computer skills come in handy for once. Unfortunately, I soon heard a low growl and above me was the alien. Quick as a snake, it leaped down and shot a strange goo at me. I was pinned to me wall of the factory and I could hear Aelita question what was happening.

I struggled to move, but the goo had me trapped. The alien moved over to the supercomputer and used its tentacles to type on the computer. Under XANA's control he could destroy the sector and leave the guys stranded on Lyoko forever! I had to get out but I couldn't move. Suddenly, above, I saw Dialla and a girl with red hair. Dialla put her finger to her lips and she quietly began to climb down the ladder. Fortunately, the alien was oblivious.

She reached the bottom and grabbed a metal pipe that was on the floor. She crept towards the monster, raising the bar, and she brought it down onthe monster's head. Shockingly, the monster crumpled to the floor, unconscious. Dialla stared at the alien for a moment, then looked at me and smiled.

"That went well," she said, then looked up at her friend. "Missy, bring down the rope and tie it up while I try and free Jeremy."

Missy nodded and climbed down. While she tied up the alien, Dialla struggled with the strange webby trap.

"I need a knife or something sharp," She muttered.

"No time for that now," I said hastily. "Check how the others are doing."

She nodded and went over to the computer.

Dialla's POV

I placed the ear piece on. "Guys? It's Dialla. You alright?"

"Dialla?" Yumi questioned.

"How was the movie?" Odd joked. "I heard it was very life-like!"

"Very funny. You guy okay?"

"Things could be better. Your brother's a pain," Ulrich said, then quickly added. "No offense!"

I laughed. "None taken."

"Is Jeremy alright?" Aelita asked.

"He's, um, a little stuck, but we're gonna try to get him out."

I glanced over at Missy and she had just finished tying up ugly. I told Jeremy the situation and he told me to get to Lyoko. I stared at the keys, hopelessly confused, then looked over at Jeremy, who sighed.

"Just listen closely... er, actually, who's better with computers?" he questioned.

"Missy," I answered automatically.

"Alright, Missy, you get to the computer. Dialla, you get to the Scanner Room," Jeremy said.

I climbed down the elevator while Missy walked to the supercomputer. Soon enough, I was quickly transferred to Lyoko, landing lithely on my feet of the Ice Sector.

"Nice job, Missy," I said. "Now, see if you can free Jeremy."

She said okay and disappeared while I ran to support my friends. I saw that Ulrich was battling Dan, Yumi was with William, and Odd was fighting the Trantulas. There were two Bloks in the horizon, who occasionally fired shots, but nothing more. I told Ulrich to fight William, Yumi to assist Odd with the Trantulas and I took on Dan. They switched and Dan attacked me immediately. He swung his sword and I did a few back hand springs and suddenly, my hands were frozen to the ground.

So, now I was stuck, my hands frozen to the ground, while the rest of me remained in the air, somehow defying gravity. Dan sauntered towards me and lowered his guard. Once he was in range, I gave him a good kick on the head. He groaned and staggered, but that was it. He grabbed his sword and I struggled to break the ice. It broke just as he swung. I moved quickly, but he was able to get me in the ribs. I hit the ground, but quickly got to my feet. I decided to take out the bloks and two green beams pierced their symbol of XANA and they exploded.

I dematerilized my guns and took out my swords. As we fought, he was forcing me back a little and almost knocked me over the edge a few times. I moved inland to attack and started forcing him back. I'm not sure how long we fought for dominance, but suddenly, I was devirtualized. As I appeared in the scanner, a white smoke appeared. It engulfed me and at first I thought it was XANA, but Jeremy said that XANA couldn't possess us for some reason. Also, I felt completley fine, except for the strange power flowing through me. I climbed up to the computer lab and saw that the alien was strangling Jeremy, who was free now, while Missy lay unconscious against the wall.

With this new power, I was able to tackle the monster, saving Jeremy. All of my abilities had enhanced dramatically. I was confused on what was happening, but frankly I didn't care. While I was beating the crap out of the alien, Jeremy announced that the tower had been deactivated. The creature disappeared in my hand, and my power faded. I was pondering about what that was when Jeremy executed a return to the past, whiping everyone's memory except ours.


	19. New Couple and Dad Trouble

Here is Chapter 19 of Life as a Lyoko Warrior! Sorry it took so long to post! Enjoy and review!

* * *

Days later, I was wondering around the campus in my new outfit - a lavendar shirt with a large neck hole and with low sleeves. It was also a little low on my chest so I had on a black tank top underneath. I had on black pants and white and purple sneakers on. At first, I didn't really like the outfit since my mom picked it out, but once I put it on, I actually liked in. Dan got a new outfit too - a green shirt with a black jacket with a white collar and white cuffs and black pants. I was on my way towards the vending machine to meet the others when I heard a couple laughing. I turned to where the laugher was coming from and nearly gasped aloud in shock. Sitting on the bench, together, was Alex and...

"_Sissi_?!" I hissed, softly.

I doubt they heard me, but he turned around abruptly and saw me. He smiled and waved. Sissi followed his gaze and had a mix between a smug smile and a glare on her face. Then they went back to talking. Like me, they too had new outfits. Alex had on a black attire with a red shirt underneath and red at the bottom of his pants. Sissi had a pink T-shirt with light blue jeans and red shoes. I stood in that same spot, watching them, for a few moments. There was a strange feeling inside me, like my heart was being squeezed.

_I can't believe Alex is with someone like Sissi. I mean, she doesn't even seem like his type! I always figured he would want someone... I dunno, nice and caring, someone he can talk with. Not snobby, egotistic and annoying. Plus, she's not exactly the brightest bulb. She's way to dumb for him..... But..... what is this edged feeling? I'm not jealous! Why should I be? I'm with Ulrich, that's all that matters._

I must've been in a daze while I was thinking this because my body was walking on its own while I was thinking this. The only reason I know this is because an hand pulled on my forearm, turning my body to the right.

"Careful, unless you actually want to hit the wall," Ulrich said.

I blinked, snapping back to reality, and looked around. I was at the vending machine and had almost walked into the wall next to it. My face flushed and I mumbled an apology. I looked at my friends, who also got new outfits.

"Is everything alright, Dialla?" Aelita questioned.

I nodded. "Yeah. Sorry, I just saw Alex and Sissi," It even hurt to say both their names.

"_Together_?!" Yumi gasped.

"No way!" Odd exclaimed. "Alex with a bubble-brain like her?"

Again, I nodded. "Yeah, I can't believe it either."

"Speak of the devil," Ulrich stated. "Here he comes now."

I turned and sure enough he was leaving Sissi.

_And coming over to me. _

I looked back at my friends briefly, then walked over to him.

"Can we talk for a sec?" he asked.

* * *

"So, you and Sissi...." I repeated.

"Yeah. We're together," he said, pausing for a long time. "You seemed pretty surprised back there. Are you, y'no, okay with this?"

I was touched, and at the same time shocked that he cared for me. I nodded quickly.

"Yeah! I'm perfectly fine! You just surprised me a little. I never imagnied Sissi would be your type,"

"Oh? And who do you think is my type?" Alex inquired, amused.

"Oh, you know, someone smart, caring and nice. With a nice smile and laugh and..." My voice trailed off when Alex flashed me a crooked smile.

I realized I was talking about myself and I quickly corrected myself.

"No! That's not what I meant! I just- Oh, you know what I meant!" I snapped, flustered.

Alex laughed. "You know... we haven't talked in a long time. And Valentine's Day is coming up, so..."

"Where are you going with this?" I questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"I figured, maybe we - Sissi, Ulrich, you and I, I mean - could go on a double date." he finished.

I blinked, stunned. "Um, well, I-I'll have to ask Ulrich..."

"Right. And I'll go ask Sissi after class," A second later the bell rang. Alex got to his feet, waved and walked to his class. Hesitating for a moment, I fianally stood up and walked over to the gang and we headed to Biology. All throughout the day, I was trying to talk to Ulrich about the double date, but we kept getting interuppted. Finally at the end of the day, I was able to get him alone. After I explained everything, to my surprise, he nodded.

"Alright, we'll go on the double date. But this is a one time thing. It's bad enough dealing with Sissi during school. After school she's even worse," Ulrich said and I hugged him.

"Oh, thanks, Ulrich!" I exclaimed.

He hugged me back and I heard Odd telling us to get a room. I stuck my tounge out at him and we both laughed. I texted Alex saying that Ulrich would come and he replied that Sissi would come to. We were going to a fair this Saturday after class. The week went by slowly and it was finally Friday. Once the bell rang for the end of school, I was bored. Jeremy said that we were going to the factory after dinner which was at seven. It was four now. So, since I had three hours to kill, I decided to go to the pool for a while. I changed into a red bikini and swam around for a while, even doing a few tricks off the diving board.

After about an hour, I got out, dried and changed, then went to the lounge, where Odd and Ulrich were playing foosball. Time flew by fast and it was time for dinner. We ate quickly and made our way to the factory. Jeremy transfered us to Lyoko and we arrived at a Forest Replica. Ulrich and I were chosen to go to Earth and we appeared in some kind of military base.

"Hey, Jeremy, where are we?" Ulrich wondered.

"I think your in Mexico," he concluded.

"Do we have to speak Spanish because I kinda failed that class," I admitted sheepishly.

"Very funny. Hurry up and look for an enterance into the base. XANA's bound to send some artillary soon," Jeremy ordered.

"Got it,"

After scoping the place out, we finally found an elevator that led inside. When we explored the inside of the base, I realized it was to quiet. As we opened the door to the supercomputer, my words came back to bite me. XANA had mangaged to materlize about a dozen Kankrelats. They fired at us and we quickly shut the door.

"Jeremy, there's at least a dozen Kankrelats in the supercomputer room!" I told him.

"Nevermind that now. One of you has to go back to the Skid. William's attacking!" Jeremy replied.

"Rock-paper-scissors?" I offered, looking at Ulrich.

He nodded and we did a two-out-of-three match. In the end, I won, so Ulrich went back to the Skid while Jeremy told me to wait. After playing with my boomerang for ten minutes, Jeremy said that I was on my own. I shrugged and pulled out my sword, quickly connecting with the other one to make a double-edged sword. The door swished open and I charged in, taking out every single Kankrelat in a matter of seconds, not reciving a single hit. Then I swiftly shoved my blade into the supercomputer.

"Nice job, Dialla! I'll bring you back now!" I was teleported back to the Skid and Aelita got us out of the Replica just in time. While we drifted in the Digital Sea, Jeremy announced that he had a program that made the NavSkids faster.

"That way, we can chase that energy mass when it shows up again," Aelita added.

"Okay, I'll go." I said.

"Alrigh, Aelita, release her NavSkid," Jeremy ordered.

"Roger," she responded while she released me.

I took off, getting used to the controls of my Skid. Sure enough, the energy mass appeared and I activated my turbo, keeping up with the strange energy.

"Whatever it is, its sending me data," Jeremy noted. "Dialla, dont' lose it!"

"No promises. This thing's fast!"

The energy mass began to pick up speed so I drained some energy from my sheild in order to power my thrusters. I was able to keep up with it untill it suddenly dissapeared.

"Huh? It dissapeared!"

"What?"

"I said, it dissapeared. Bye-bye. Adios. Arrivederci. Sayo-"

"Okay, I get it!" he interuppted. "I've got your coordinates, you can come back now."

Aelita brought me back and Jeremy materlized us back into the Scanner Room. When we got outside, it was dark out. I quickly checked my phone for the time. It was 9:00. Not that late, but I had to get home fast if I wanted to be on time. Quickly saying goodbye, I rushed to my house.

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Saturday afternoon Ulrich and I met up with Sissi and Alex at the fair. They had all sorts of fun rides, farris wheels and tons of fun games. Ulrich and Alex - being guys and competitve - challenged each other on every game they did. Ulrich won a squirt gun game and gave me a teddy bear as a prize. Alex won a claw crane game and got Sissi a stuffed kitten. The good part was I was able to talk to Alex normally again. The bad part, for the entire evening, everywhere Ulrich and I turned, Alex and Sissi would be making out. I was happy for them, but they weren't even going out as long as we were and they were already kissing twice as much.

A little creepy, no?

Anyway, time got the best of us because my mom wanted me home by 9:30 and it was 10:30. When I told Ulrich, he offered to walk me home. We arrived at me house and he leaned in to kiss me good night when the door opened suddenly and a bright ray of light hit our shocked faces. In the doorway, look pissed off, was my father. Attention readers (girls in paticular): if you have a boyfriend and a strict dad, it's not a smart idea to keep him a secret.

I opened my mouth to explain, but couldn't even get a word out as he grabbed my forearm and pulled me roughly into the house and slamming the door in Ulrich's face.

"Are you out of your mind?!" he yelled. "You're too young to have a boyfriend!"

"Dad, I'm 14 and I can take care of myself! Besides, you don't even know him!" I yelled back.

"I know what is best for you and he is not a part of it!" he snapped. "I forbid you from seeing him! In fact..." he paused for a moment. "I am going to be picking you up every day from school. You will no longer stay at that school as a border!"

"What?!" I shrieked. "But, Dad!"

"No buts! Now get up to bed! Now!"

"That's not fair!"

A second after I said that my cheek stung and tears appeared in my eyes. That was the first time he ever slapped me and it hurt. Fear in my eyes, I quickly dissapeared up the stairs before he could do more damage. I ran into my room, slammed my door shut and quickly locked it. Then I laid down on my bed, tears begging to escape. I did my best to keep them in, but eventually it was too much and I broke out into sobs. Sobs that made my lungs hurt. In the end, I was comfoted by my cat, Leo, who rubbed up against me. I stopped sobbing for a moment and looked at him. He licked my cheek, whiping away the tears and rubbed his face against mine, purring like a motorboat. I stroked his fur and as he curled up next to me, I eventually dozed off.

Ulrich's POV

After listening to Dialla and her father argue, I heard a smack. My fists clenched with anger. That jerk! I can't believe he hit her! Reluctantly, I turned away from her house and made my way back to Kadic. I got back to my room and Odd asked me how the date was. I ignored him, changed into my nightware and quickly laid down on my bed. I didn't even fall asleep until hours later. The next morning, when I awoke I was debating on whether or not to call her. In the end I decided to wait for her to call me. It was around twelve o clock and I was reading the Pencak Silat book Dialla got me in my room when someone knocked at my door.

"Come in," I mumbled, not looking up from my book.

The door opened and closed quickly. I looked up and my mouth fell open.

"Dialla! Are you okay?!" I exclaimed, quickly standing up.

She nodded and began explaining what had happened. As she talked, I noticed her right cheek was slightly red. I reached up and gently caressed it. She flinched at the touch, but then got used to it. I removed my hand and pecked her cheek just a second before her phone vibrated. She pulled it out and cursed under her breath.

"My parents will be home soon. I've got to go. I'll see you tomorrow," she said quickly and kissed me.

Then, as quickly as she came, she dissapeared from my room.


	20. Surpise Confrontment

Dialla's POV

I managed to make it home before my parents and acted innocent by reading a book on the couch. My father looked hesitant for some reason. I decided not to question it and continued reading. After about a half-hour of reading, I remembered that there was a physics test tomorrow and decided to study. With the exception of coming down for dinner, I never left my room until the next morning when my father was gone. I left without breakfast, telling my mom I would eat at school, when in reality I wasn't hungry. I got to the Academy and met my friends at the cafeteria. I explained everything to them and when I finished I folded my hands on the table and placed my head on top. My friends consoled me until the bell rang. On my way to class a teacher told me that Mr. Delmas wanted to see me. I didn't like the idea, but I had no choice. When I got their,. he told me that I had been absent at classes too many times.

"If I hear you are absent at a class on more time, I will have no choice but to expell you," he said. "I'm sorry."

I had to bite down hard on my tongue so that I wouldn't freak out. I nodded and went back to Mrs. Hertz class. During class, Mrs. Hertz handed out the test and I drew a total blank. I studied for over an hour last night and now it was all gone. And I needed a good grade for this class. I knew some of them easily but the rest of them I couldn't figure out. In the end, I settled with guessing. Once the bell rang, I sighed in relief, knowing that I was probably going to get another bad grade.

"Hey, D, what did Mr. Delmas want?" Odd questioned after class.

"He said that apparently I've been missing too many classes. And if I miss one more, I'll be expelled," I explained. "And with me being stuck at my house by my dad, it's going to be hard to get to the factory now."

"The only good thing is since we've destroyed a few replicas, that's probably weakened XANA," Jeremy concluded.

"I sure hope so," I grumbled.

We let the subject drop for the rest of the day and once the final bell rang and I walked outside, my dad was waiting for me, standing next to his blue Fusion.

"Well, now I'm off to prison," I muttered. "See you later, guys."

I waved good-bye and walked slowly over to my dad, not even bothering to look at him. He drove me home and I began working on my homework immediately. It wasn't until eight o clock at night that I was interrupted from studying by Jeremy.

"Hello?" I answered.

"Dialla! We need you!" Jeremy cried.

"Jeremy!" I opened my door, checking to make sure my parents weren't around to hear. "What is it? I'm in enough trouble as it is."

"XANA knew we'd be trying to destroy a replica tonight. So he's launched an attack on Lyoko's core!"

"Can't you just bring them back to Lyoko?"

"There's not enough time!"

"Tell me, how am I supposed to sneak out to help you if my dad checks on me every ten minutes?"

"I'll think of something. Dialla, if you don't come Lyoko will be gone forever!"

"I know that!" I stalked out of my room and peeked into the living room. My parents were both sitting on the couch reading. If I tried to escape, they'd see me at once. I cursed softly and headed back to my room. I had left my phone on my desk and Leo had just walked across it. I checked if Jeremy was still there and he wasn't.

"Stupid cat!" I scolded.

Leo just meowed at me and started cleaning his face. I sighed and looked out my window. I checked the drop. Two stories high and it looked about 24 feet.

_If I land wrong I could end up back in the hospital again. Risky. But right now I don't really have much of a choice._

Slipping my phone into my pocket, I pried open my window and kicked out the screen. It hit the grass below with a soft thud. Taking a deep breath, I pushed myself out the window and jumped. I landed on the grass and rolled, but there was a sharp pain in my left ankle and I winced. I held my ankle and assumed it was probably sprained. I got to my feet and ran as fast as I could despite my injured ankle. I arrived at the factory in a few minutes, grateful that my house was close by. Swinging down the rope and landed on the floor hurt my ankle more, but by then I had actually gotten used to the pain. I quickly walked into the elevator and told Jeremy I was at the on my way to the Scanner Room.

When the elevator opened, I limped my way towards the closest scanner and Jeremy virtualized me onto Lyoko. I appeared in Sector 5, wavered a little bit, then dropped to the floor. The path opened up and I took off. Jeremy notified me that the countdown had started and I three minutes to find the key. The room started shifting and changing rapidly. To make matters worse, XANA sent me some Creepers to play with. The key was positioned high up from where I was and, after taking out the Creepers, I quickly scaled up the wall and hit the key. After Jeremy guided me there, I finally reached the room. All the way at the top were three mantas and three creepers. I activated my booster and quickly flew up there. The mantas noticed and flew down to try and stop me. I quickly dispatched them, only getting shot once. I took out of one the Creepers when Jeremy alerted me that Dan was coming and a second later his beam was fired. I managed to avoid it but I realized later he used that as a diversion because he threw his sword at me. I quickly leaned to the left, but it managed to scrape my side. My stomach began electrocuting as I lost a few life points. I took out the last creeper with my gun and threw both my boomerangs at Dan. He deflected them both but at the same time, he left himself wide open.

I took the chance, flew down at him and kicked him in the stomach and fired at him with my guns a few times. He managed to block a few with his shield but the others still hit him. He hit the bottom of the floor hard and I soon joined him. He quickly got up and began firing at me. I pulled out my sword on my right hip and connected it with my other sword, creating a double-edge sword, shielded his cannon beam, and charged at him. When we clashed, something unusual happened. As soon as our swords connected, there was a flash of white light. As it engulfed us, I lost contact with Jeremy. When the light faded we were in a house or something. I looked around, momentarily forgetting about Dan, trying to figure out where the hell we were. When we looked at each other and I remembered that we were fighting and quickly tackled him. I reached for my sword, but all I grabbed was air.

"Huh?" I checked myself. All my weapons were gone. I looked up at Dan and his weapons were gone as well. I realized also he was no longer under XANA's control.

"Now, I can't have you two fighting while I'm trying to talk to you, can I?" a husky voice said.

Still on top of Dan, I looked to my left and a man with brown hair dressed in a white lab coat was standing there. I didn't even need to look in his eyes to know who he was. I slowly got of Dan, who was just as shocked and confused as I was, and stared at the man.

"Hello, Dialla. Dan. It's a pleasure to finally see you again. I'm Tyler Reinhart. Your father," he said, like he had reheasered it.

"Is it... really you, Dad?" I questioned, my voice was shaky.

Slowly, he nodded and at first I was wary, thinking it was XANA again, but there was something different. He was more... fatherly than the XANA clone. Dan wasn't wary at all as he raced up and hugged him. Dad hugged him back and looked at me, as if he was expecting me to hug him. I walked towards him and....

_Smack!_

There was a red mark on his cheek and his hand was next to it. He stared at me in shock as I glowered at him.

"What kind of a father sends his own daughter and son into a virtual world to be trapped by some evil program?!" I shouted angrily, tears springing from my eyes. The shock faded from his face and instead it was sympathy and sorrow.

"Ah, right. I suppose, I shouldn't try to be like a father, right now," he said, while Dan released him. "However, it's time I explain things."

Surprisingly, I let him explain his story. Apparently, him and Franz Hopper had created Lyoko and XANA to counteract a military project but when the secret service found out they hid in Lyoko. He also explained that he was the force that took over me at the factory when XANA possessed the alien.

"Wait a minute," I interrupted. "What about our mothers? Aelita and me."

His face darkened slightly. "They dissapeared."

My face fell slightly. "Dialla."

I looked up at him. "Yes?"

"One more thing. What ever you do... do _not _let the Scyphoza capture you."

I raised an eyebrow at him, confused, but a large light appeared, similar to before, and I felt myself dissapearing.

"Wait! Dad! How do I free Dan and William from XANA?" I begged.

His mouth moved but I was terrible and reading lips. It looked like he said "Sector 5" but I wasn't sure. When the light faded, I was back in Lyoko, but was devirtualized. When the doors opened, I fell forward, my eyes closed and hit the floor of the Scanner Room hard.


	21. Using the Supercomputer

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. I've been rather lazy lately. Nonetheless, here is Chapter 21. Please Enjoy and Review!

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Ulrich's POV

Jeremy divirtualized us abruptly, telling us that Dialla had disappeared from his screen. We all crowded around him in the Computer Lab, staring anxiously at the screen, waiting for any signs of life. Suddenly the computer started beeping and it said that Dialla just got divirtualized. We took the elevator to the Scanner Room and when it opened, Dialla was on to the floor unconscious.

"Dialla!" I called and dashed over to her. I gently raised her head and placed it in my lap, waiting anxiously for her eyes to open.

With the help of Odd and Yumi, we were able to haul her up gently and bring her up into the Computer Lab and place her against the wall. The three of us crowded around her, while Jeremy and Aelita tried to figure out what had happened. A few minutes had passed and Dialla slowly began to stir, groaning and turning, as if she was in a dream.

"Dialla?" I questioned, leaning over her.

Odd and Yumi did the same and her chocolate eyes started to open slowly. We all smiled, relieved, while she blinked several times. We helped her sit up while throwing questions at her. She looked as if she was in some kind of trance. But she eventually snapped out of it and started explaining.

"When our swords clashed, we were in some kind of house, and my father was there," she said, still a little weak.

"Your father?" Aelita asked.

"Well, what did he say?" Yumi inquired.

"He said that the reason him and Franz Hopper created Lyoko and XANA was to counteract a military program, but when the secret service found out, they took us to Lyoko."

"Us, as in..." Jeremy wondered.

"Me, Dan and Aelita," she answered. "And, he said to make sure I don't get captured by the Scyphozoa."

Those thirteen words made us all become silently until Yumi caught sight of the time.

"It's getting late. I'm have to start heading home," she said.

We all agreed and when Dialla stood up she cringed and leaned on the wall. She said that her ankle was sprained so I supported her on my shoulder. She smiled and thanked me. We all stepped into the elevator, expecting everything to be okay. But of course God hates us, because when the elevator door opened, Dialla's parents and 'Dan' had just slid down the ropes of the factory. Dialla flinched against me, knowing she was caught. As for the rest of us, we froze. For a few minutes, nobody spoke.

"Hi.... Dad," Dialla said finally.

"Dialla Marie Reinhart," he said slowly. "YOU ARE IN SO MUCH TROUBLE!!"

She frowned when he said her full name. "Dad, I can explain-"

"You better! Sneaking out of the house, jumping out the window! And what's this virtual world, and 'XANA' Dan keeps blabbing about?"

Her eyebrows knit together for a moment, as if she was making a mental note.

"Well, there's a perfectly good explanation for that...." her voice trailed off as she slammed her fist on the elevator button. "Bye!" She waved as the doors shut.

Jeremy quickly activated the Return to the Past, clearing their memory.

Dialla's POV

After Jeremy launched the Return to the Past, I was back in my room studying. And by studying, I mean thinking about what my real Dad had said (I'm gonna call him Tyler from now or else it'll get confusing). Tyler had said that I must not get captured by the Scyphozoa... but what would happen if I did. I ended up thinking about that so much, I totally forgot about studying for a major History test. Somehow, I managed to get a 63 on it. It wasn't failing, but my grades were slipping majorly. At the beginning of the year, I was mostly A's and B's. Now I was B's and C's. My parents were starting to get suspicious so I needed to bring my grades up fast. Jeremy tutored me a little in History and Biology and I was doing fine in Math and English which was good.

Unfortunately, I was still pratically under house arrest so I missed out on a few trips to the Factory and Sector 5. I was talking to my dad again and he said he would unground me if my grades shot up, which was good. As spring came along, my grades were back to normal and I was free. Also, soccer tryouts were starting. However, there wasn't a girls team so I was bummed about that. Ulrich was captain for his team, so I could at least watch him play and help him practice. My dad loves soccer, so he said he would come to a couple of his games. Slowly he was getting used to him which was good. After a few games, and me begging constantly, my dad finally approved of him. It was a Saturday afternoon and Jeremy had called a meeting in his room.

Ulrich and I were sitting on his bed, Yumi was leaning against his shut door, Odd was on the floor with Kiwi, Aelita was leaning on the table and Jeremy was sitting in his computer chair.

"So, what's up?" I asked.

"I've decided to teach you guys how to use the Supercomputer, since our old pal always targets either Aelita or myself," he explained bluntly.

"Tomorrow, right?" Ulrich questioned. "Because Dialla and I have Pencak Silat practice..."

"And I've got a test to study for," Yumi added.

"Yeah, and I've got a date with Camille," Odd chimed in.

"Guys! This is serious! It's important that you know how to at least virtualize yourselves onto Lyoko," he chided. "Besides, if you guys get it done fast, you'll still have enough time for the things you want to do."

In the end, we had no choice as Jeremy dragged us to the factory. I was jealous of Aelita since she was at the semifinals for auditions with the Subsonics, seeing as she is really good with records. Jeremy handed us his large cluster of notes and we stared at them blankly. He allowed us to read over the papers for a few minutes before lecturing us.

"Alright, who wants to be the first test subject?" Jeremy inquired.

"I will!" Odd offered.

"Alright. Ulrich, you'll send Odd to Lyoko and then Dialla will send you to Lyoko. Got it?"

We nodded and Odd went down to the Scanner Room while Ulrich sat down in the chair. He started typing slowly.

"Uhh, Transfer, Odd," he said, "Scanner, Odd. Virtualization!"

Once Odd was safely on Lyoko, Ulrich went to the Scanner Room and it was my turn. I took my seat and started typing.

"Transfer, Ulrich," I said," Scanner, Ulrich. Virtualization!"

I hit the enter key and prayed that it would work. Just to be sure, I called his name.

"It's okay, Dialla. I'm here on the Ice Sector," he said.

I sighed in relief. "Not bad for a beginner, eh, Jeremy?"

"Not bad except you almost hit the wrong key and messed everything up,"

"Oh, you're never satisfied," I grumbled. "I got him to Lyoko, didn't I?"

"Yeah, because I was here," he argued. "What if I wasn't? You'd be doomed."

Not a second later, the Superscan picked up an activated tower in the mountain sector. Jeremy took back the controls and ordered Yumi and I to Lyoko. Unfortunately, XANA sent us a polymorphic clone and he didn't exactly look happy. I rushed him and leaped in the air. I aimed a kick at him, but he caught my foot and threw me across the room. My head clanged against the metal floor and I groaned. The clone grabbed a wire and ripped it in half with ease then quickly electrocuted Jeremy.

"Jeremy!" Yumi cried.

She braced herself for a fight, but the clone suddenly disappeared.

"It dissapeared,..." she murmured while I got to my feet, rubbing my head.

Yumi placed her head on his chest to listen for a heartbeat. "He's still breathing, but he's taken a lot of volts."

"Guys?" Ulrich's voice came from Lyoko. "What's going on?"

I placed on the headset. "We've got a bit of a problem. XANA sent us a polymorhpic clone to play with and Einstein's out cold,"

"Bummer. What do we do now?" Odd questioned.

"I'll call Aelita," Yumi decided and tried calling. When she didn't answer, she sent her a text message.

"Um, try to get to a Way Tower. There's an activated tower in the mountain sector," I said.

"Okay, where is this Way Tower?" Odd wondered.

I looked at Yumi since she had more experience with the Supercomputer than me, but she shrugged her shoulders.

"I'm not sure. I'm going to try and bring up a vehicle for you guys." I told them

"Any sign of the clone?" Ulrich asked.

"No, he disappeared. I wonder why..." my voice trailed off.

"Aelita!" Yumi gasped. "The clone must've gone after her! We've got to go warn her!"

She ran to the elevator. "Hey! Wait! You're not gonna leave me by myself are you?"

She hit the button. "You're doing great, Dialla. Keep it up!" She smiled and disappeared up the elevator shaft.

I narrowed my eyes and tried to bring up a veichile when the radar started beeping and three red icons appeared on the screen.

"Ulrich, Odd, you've got some thingies coming towards you. Three of them."

"Those are bloks," Odd corrected.

While they battled the monsters, I was able to materialize the Overbike.

"Nice job, Dialla. You brought up the Overbike," Ulrich said.

"But you were supposed to send it to _us_, not _them_, dummy!" Odd scolded.

"You know, I liked Ulrich's comment a lot better, pea brain," I quipped. "Just look for the Way Tower already."

They quickly disposed of the bloks and started searching for the Way Tower. Later, Yumi and Aelita finally showed up in the elevator and Aelita took over as she started a delayed virtualization program for us.

Suddenly, the clone appeared and he looked pissed, as usual.

I got in a fighting stance. "Get to Lyoko you guys! I'll take care of him."

They nodded and took the latter down to the Scanner Room.

Aelita's POV

Yumi and I were virtualized onto Lyoko just as Ulrich and Odd showed up. Guarding the tower were three Krabes, Dan and William. As we charged at them, Odd and Ulrich took out the Krabes while Yumi battled William. I tried to fly over the chaotic scene but Dan threw his sword at me. Out of no where, Ulrich appeared in the air with me and deflected his sword and threw both of his at Dan. Unable to dodge, Dan was soon defeated. Seconds later, Yumi devirtualized William and Odd killed the last Krabe. I stepped into the tower and deactivated it quickly. We attacked ourselves and soon appeared in the Scanner Room. Taking the elevator, we found Dialla, badly bruised but awake. Jeremy was still unconscious, but awoke moments later.

"Aelita, did you do it?" Jeremy questioned, dazed.

"I didn't do a thing," I said smiling.

"I think we did a pretty good job, wouldn't you say?" Dialla said, laughing.

We all joined in and surprisingly, they were still able to make it in time for the things they needed to do. Odd, Yumi, Ulrich and Dialla left us while Jeremy and I continued to work on the program to bring back Dan and William.

Dialla's POV

For the rest of the week, XANA continued to attack us. Now it was really getting on my nerves. It was Saturday morning and I was brushing my hair when XANA launched another attack. While I was preparing for school, the Dan clone stood behind me.

"If you need a mirror, go use another one," I said, not really paying attention.

I realized that not paying attention was a huge mistake as my body was suddenly filled with electricity and pain. I cried out loud and was soon unconscious. I fell backwards, dropping the brush and fell into a pair of arms.

Evil Dan Clone's POV (i dunno)

After knocking out Dialla, her parents came up the stairs, looking concerned.

"Dan! What did you--" they began but I simply sent them into the wall. They were knocked out easily and I quickly brought her to the factory. I transferred her to Lyoko making sure she would be trapped by the awesome power of XANA. Then, I went to deal with her annoying friends.


	22. ExBoyfriends are Bastards

Okay, I'm really glad people are putting this as their Favorite Story and stuff. I like that, but I also like reviews. I apologize if I am sounding too persistant, but could you please review? Pretty please?

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Odd's POV

Ulrich, Aelita, Einstein and I were eating breakfast when we noticed Dialla wasn't here. At first we thought it was normal, since she's usually late for breakfast. But when first period came by and she didn't show up, we started getting worried. We were on our way to P.E when Einstein's laptop started beeping. He pulled it out of his backpack and started typing.

"Activated tower," he declared. "Let's head to the factory."

We all nodded and I tried to call Dialla while Ulrich called Yumi. When I got her voice mail, we got nervous and rushed to the factory. We were almost at the sewer passage when the Dan clone appeared out from a tree, leapt and Jeremy and grasped his throat, squeezing. Ulrich and I grabbed the closets object - large sticks - and smacked Dan. It caught him off guard for the moment and Ulrich ordered us to get to the factory while he covered us.

"Good luck," I said and climbed down the latter.

I hopped on my skateboard skillfully, grinded on a pipe, and was soon at the end of the sewer, meeting Yumi. We climbed up and ran to the factory. When we got there, to our surprise, Dialla was on Lyoko.

"Hurry! Get to the scanners! She's in trouble," Jeremy cried.

Aelita, Yumi and I stepped into the scanner and were virtualized onto Lyoko. We landed in the forest sector and the Scyphzoa had just dropped Dialla. I leaped off my Overboard and crouched over her.

"D? You alright?" I asked.

Her foot implanted with me chest, sending me staggering back a few feet. She got to her feet, her beautiful chocolate eyes were replaced with the Eye of XANA.

"Jeremy! She's..." my voice stopped when she fired her guns at me.

I rolled to my left and leaped on my Overboard and soared into the air.

"Jeremy!" Aelita shouted. "XANA's possessed Dialla!"

For a moment, we didn't hear anything. Then, Jeremy spoke: "Guys! Don't devirtualize her! Just stall her! I'm going to try and reset the Supercomputer!"

"Will it work?" Yumi questioned.

"I sure hope so. But I need a few minutes," he concluded.

"No problem! Banzai!" I shouted and flew down at Dialla, firing a few laser arrows.

Dialla shielded them, then connected both of her guns at fired at me. I brought up my purple shield but she shot me in the leg and I fell off my Overboard and onto the ground. Jeremy told me that I lost 50 lifepoints. Dialla hovered over me, raising one of her sword. A fan flew around her and hit her hand, knocking the sword away. She glared at Yumi who had just recovered her fan. I took this chance and got away from her. Yumi prepared to throw her fans again, but Dialla fired her guns-now separated- at her Overwing and it got devirtualized, causing her to fall. As she fell, Dialla threw her boomerangs at Yumi. Yumi, who couldn't evade, got devirtualized. I told Aelita to head for the tower and while I told her that, Dialla connected her guns again and fired. Her green beam hit me in the head, an immediate devirtualization. I appeared in the Scanner Room just as Ulrich had climbed down.

I had never seen Ulrich so angry and upset than how he was now. Not that I could blame him. I stumbled out of his way as he stepped into my scanner. The doors shut and soon he was on Lyoko.

Ulrich's POV

After dealing with the clone temporarily, Jeremy called and told me Dialla had become possessed by XANA on Lyoko. I hung up before he could continue and ran as faced as I could to the factory. The clone recovered and started to follow me. Once I could see him out of the corner of my eye, I stopped abruptly, brought my right foot up and kicked him in the face. He hit the grassy ground and I continued running. When I finally got to the factory, I went right to the Scanner Room. Odd didn't even crack a joke when I arrived. I got virtualized onto Lyoko and landed on the Forest Sector. Up ahead, blocking my bath, was a Trantula. Jeremy programed my Overbike and I leaped on. I drove fast towards the monster, avoiding the red beams it fired and pulled out one of my swords. I leaned slightly to the left and my saber pierced its skin, destroying it in seconds. I soon caught up with Dialla, who was assaulting Aelita and leaped into the air, sending her my Overbike.

She saw it coming and simply stepped out of the way. I ordered Aelita to run for the tower and I stepped in between her and Dialla. Aelita started running towards the tower and Dialla glared at me.

"Ulrich, I need you to stall Dialla for a few minutes. Don't devirtualize her. I'm going to restart the Supercomputer," he told me.

I nodded and pulled out both my swords, as did she. As we engaged in a sword fight, I managed to knock away her swords for the moment. She didn't seem to care since she used her boomerangs as daggers. I'd forgotten how skillful Dialla can be, typically when she's mad, because now I was sword less. She swiped my feet out and grabbed her own sword. Keeping her foot placed on my chest, she raised her sword. At that moment, everything froze, her blade was inches from my face as I brought up my arms in an abortive attempt to defend myself.

Moments later, everything was unfrozen and Dialla dropped her sword and fell forward. I caught her, checking to see if she was still under XANA's control. Thankfully, she wasn't but she was really weak. Jeremy rematerialized us and Aelita deactivated the tower. Dialla was still a little shaken up when she stepped out of Lyoko and I explained to her what had happened. Surprisingly, she took it pretty well. Later, Jeremy announced that we would destroy the Desert Replica tomorrow. Lucky for us, tomorrow was Sunday, meaning there was no classes. We got to the factory and Jeremy transferred us to Lyoko. As Aelita piloted the Skid, Jeremy alerted us that there was a few sharks coming towards us. Aelita ejected the NavSkids and I was used to the controls of my Skid. I took out two sharks while the others handled the rest of the sharks. Once they were gone, Aelita brought us back to the Skid and we appeared in the Desert Replica.

Ulrich and Yumi were chosen to go to Earth while Odd, Aelita and I stayed on the replica. A few minutes passed and Jeremy informed us that William, Dan and a two Trantulas were coming and he programed our vehicles. I leaped on my Overboard and flew towards our enemies. The Trantulas opened fire on me and I swirved around, evading the beams and took out one. The other was taken out by Aelita's energy field. Dan aimed his gun at me and fired rapidly. I'd forgotten how accurate his aim was because a lot of times he almost hit me even when I was dodging. A stray beam hit my Overboard and it was devirtualized. I activated my booster and flew away. He flew after me and we began to have a sword fight in mid-air. At one point he fired a his gun at me a few times. One of the beams grazed my booster and it became fuzzy. Unsure of whether or not it would devirtualize, I lowered myself to the ground.

"Dialla, the beam that hit your booster lowered the time rate. You now only have about ten seconds left," Jeremy informed me.

_Which means I need to be careful_I thought. Dan flew down and landed a few feet from me. I connected both my swords and charged at Dan while he grasped his large sword. We engaged in a sword fight for a couple of minutes and I noticed that Odd was having a bit of trouble with William. I quickly disarmed Dan and knocked him away and went to support Odd. I fired my guns at William and got him in the shoulder. Odd took the opportunity and fired a few laser arrows at him. William cringed as our attacks fazed him but unfortunately they werent' enough to devirtualize him. He turned on me now, while Odd dealt with Dan, who was getting back on his feet.

I pulled my swords apart in order to deal with William's sword but he was obviously used to dealing with two swords as he knocked away my weapons easily. I tensed and went to grab my boomerangs but he pointed his sword at me, causing me to back away. I nearly fell off the edge of the sector when his tip reached my chin. He pulled his sword away suddenly and stroked my cheek seductivley. Why he was doing that, I wasn't sure. But I was fully prepared when he pushed me since I pulled him down with me. As we both fell, I realized that it doesn't affect him if he falls in the Digital Sea.

"Oh, wait, that doesn't help me. Boo," I said and shifted in the air.

I activated my booster and soared up but William grabbed onto my legs, halting me.

"Ack! Hey! Get off!" I shouted and struggled but his grip was firm.

I ended up elbowing him on his head and continued my way up. I was inches from the edge when my booster died, but I was able to grab hold of the edge.

My hand slowly started to loose its grip and I told Jeremy to bring me back. He said it would take a couple of minutes. Unfortunately, I didn't have a few minutes and my hand slipped from the edge. I yelled for a moment but someone grabbed my hand. I assumed it was Odd, but when I looked up, my mouth fell open in shock.

"Dan?!" I gasped.

He glared at me and his grip tightened and he pulled me up and threw me into the air. He fired his cannon at me and I flinched at the whiteish blue laser came at me.

"Ah, oh crap!" The beam hit me in back and I was devirtalized.

I appeared in the scanner, one hand holding me up, the other wrapped around my stomach. "Ohh, that hurt."

I recovered in a matter of seconds, and made my way towads the elevator. I joined Jeremy over by the Supercomputer and soon Ulrich had destroyed the Desert Replica. Jeremy brought the rest of the group back, and I questioned if he was getting any closer to bringing back Dan and William.

"I just need a little more data from Sector 5 and we should be able to free them. Why?" he wondered.

"Because just now, when I almost fell into the Digital Sea, Dan saved me," I answered. "The real Dan not the XANA possessed one."

"But he only saved you to devirtualize you," Aelita pointed out.

"Exactly. If XANA wants to get rid of us, why would Dan devirtualize me instead of just letting me fall?"

"I think she's right," Yumi agreed. "It's like that time at the lake. William did the same."

There was an awkward moment of silence which was broken when Odd unpremeditately yelled. "LUNCH TIME!"

We all looked at him like he had six heads, but then we laughed and left the factory. We skated swiftly through the sewers and I reached the end first. I cllimbed up the latter and waited for my friends to emerge. Once they came out, we were walking towards the lunch room when I saw a person I really didn't want to see. His golden hair was a huge mess as it always was and he was dressed in a red shirt, black jacket and blue jeans. I sighed agitated, and told my friends I'd meet them at the lunch room. They eyed me weirdly, but nodded. I made sure they were inside the cafeteria before I walked over to him.

"What the hell are you doing here?" I hissed.

He noticed the anger in my voice and cautiously took a step back. "Chill, honey. I'm just here to visit."

"Don't call me _honey. _We broke up, remember?"

"What, you think having one little fight means we broke up? I don't think so." He wagged his finger playfully. "The way I see it is, we had a fight, and you came here to clear your head."

I placed my hand on my forehead, parts of my hair were trapped in my fingers, and I groaned. "You're really are an idiot. You _cheated _on me, Mike! With Jessica! Of all people!"

Jessica was the meanest, most horrible person ever. Whatever I had, she had to have. Including a boyfriend.

"She came on to me! I didn't cheat, I promise!" he protested. "And I still love you, Dialla. I can't get you out of my head. Please. Just give me one more chance." His brown eyes were pleading and I could see that he was sincere. But...

"You're too late," I said softly. "I have a boyfriend."

I turned swiftly on my heels and strode towards the lunchroom, when his hand grabbed my roughly. He spun me around and grabbed my other arm with his free hand.

"You see," he said, his voice colder now, "You should know by now that I don't work that way, kitty cat."

I glowered at him when he called me _kitty cat_ and struggled but his grip only tightened. I flinched.

"You're hurting me," I told him.

He loosened his grip, but only a little. "I've got a better idea. You break up with whoever your loser boyfriend is, and we can go steady again."

This time I was able to get out of his grip.

"No!" I snapped. "You had a chance and you blew it! Now go home!"

I started my stride again towards the lunchroom, but this time it was his voice that stopped me.

"What do you think the police will say when I mention XANA?" he asked, I could evidently hear the smugness in his voice.

I did my best to keep my face a mask, but it was a little difficult.

"XANA?" I questioned innocently, turning back to him. "What's that? Some kind of game?"

"Don't play dumb," Mike said and held up a maroon and pink book.

My _diary._

"_How did you get that?!_" I screeched, marching over to him.

He deliberately moved the book out of my reach and leaned forward. That was the same trick he did when he first kissed me, so I was prepared. I stopped short and grabbed his shirt.

"Give it back right now, you bastard!"

"Ah,ah,ah," he chided, waving a finger. "Be nice, Dialla. Or all your little secrets about this XANA thing will go straight to the police."

I glared daggers at him, and, seeing no way out of this, I released him and sighed.

"What do you want?"

"It's just like I said. Break up with your boyfriend and be my girlfriend. Then, once I'm absolutely positive you won't do anything bad, I'll give you your diary back."

"Fine," I grumbled and finally arrived at the lunchroom.

"About time!" Odd cried.

"What took you so long?" Yumi asked.

I ignored her and looked at Ulrich. "Ulrich, can we talk for a sec?"

He looked confused, but nodded and followed me outside, along with his burger. We walked over to a secluded place and at first I planned to tell him about me being blackmailed, but I saw Mike following us slowly. When I turned around to face him, he was handing me his burger. I stared at him shocked, my mouth slightly open.

"Here," he said, smiling. "Lunch is almost over and you haven't eaten."

I hesistated, staring at the half-eaten burger. Water began to form in my eyes and I blinked several times to get rid of them. Slowly, I reached out and grabbed the burger. I moved the burger to my lips, beginning to take a bite, but I stopped.

"Ulrich...." I said, taking a deep breath. "I... we need to break up."

His usually clam brown eyes widened in shock. "What?!"

"I'm so sorry!" I cried, dropped the burger and ran as fast as I could, getting away from the pain and hurt that was plastered on his face.

I finally stopped running when I reached the front gate of the school. Tears poured down my cheeks as I chocked on sobs. my shoulders shook violently and I could evidently hear the smugness in Mike's voice as he spoke: "Aww, no need to cry. You're with me now,"

Surprisingly, I stopped crying for a moment and turned to face him. He was only a few feet from me which was his mistake. Curling my hands into fists, I brought up my right hand and punched him as hard as I could in the jaw. He staggered back and fell, clutching his mouth. He moaned loudly and I turned and headed towards me room in the academy.

Ulrich's POV

I watched in shock as my brown haired love disappeared quickly. I noticed tears in her eyes and stared absentmindedly at the still half-eaten burger that lay on the grassy ground. I turned in the direction Dialla ran in and noticed a dirty blonde hair boy following her. I glared at him in anger, but went back to join my friends at the lunchroom. Noticing the lethal glare upon my face, they didn't question me once. Before we went out seperate ends, I saw Yumi and Odd whisper with each other, but I didn't question it. For the rest of the day, Dialla never appeared for class. And at the same time, I couldn't get her out of my head. I was so confused. She breaks up with me but doesn't even explain why. It didn't make any sense. Once the bell rang, I went to my usual spot for sulking. The woods.

Yumi's POV

Odd and I approached room 205 and my pale hand knocked several times with much more force than necissary. For a moment, there was nothing but silence. Then, there was a click and the door opened hesitantly and I percieve a bloodshot brown eye filled with tears.

"We need to talk," I said firmly.

The door began to close but I prevented her from doing so by stopping the door with my foot. I pushed on the door until it fully opened and Odd and I stepped inside then shut the door.

"Why did you break up with Ulrich?" I questioned.

"Yeah, what's going on?" Odd added.

She hesitated but then took a deep breath and explained the situation. When she finished, my mouth nearly fell open in shock.

"You're ex-boyfriend is _blackmailing_you?!" I cried incredulously.

She nodded once frowning. Her tears were gone but her eyes were still red. She sniffled a few times.

"Yeah, he somehow got a hold of my diary and now he is blackmailing me into being his girlfriend."

"Why didn't you say no?" asked Odd.

"Because, I wrote mostly about us being Lyoko Warriors and XANA and everything. If the police ever got that information, they'd shut down the supercomputer and we would have no way of fighting XANA or saving Dan and William."

"But why couldn't you tell Ulrich the truth?" I inquired.

"Believe me, I was going to. But Mike followed us and I knew he was watching so I had to make it look real otherwise he wouldn't have believed it," A moment later her cell phone vibrated an she pulled it out of her pocket.

She scowled and read the message she received. "It's him. He wants me to meet him in the park."

She shoved the phone back into her pocket and stood up. "Could you guys do me a favor? Could you explain all this to Ulrich and tell him I'm sorry."

The she slipped out of her room.


	23. FREE AT LAST!

Sorry this update took so long. School has been rough and I've been lazy. I will try to update more over Christmas break but for now please enjoy this chapter and review!

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Ulrich's POV

I practiced my Pencak Silat in an attempt to calm myself. It worked for a short while and after practicing for an hour, I rested against a tree, shutting my eyes in thought. My thoughts were interrupted by a familiar voice shouting my name. I opened my eyes and saw two figures approaching me. A short one and a tall one.

"We've got some good news, Ulrich!" the Japanese girl announced.

I glanced at them, turning my head slightly. "Oh yeah? Well I'm not in the mood,"

Yumi appeared offended and Odd joined in.

"We know the why Dialla 'broke up' with you!" the scrawny blonde chimed, putting air quotes around the words _broke up_.

That caught my attention and I let them explain.

Once they finished, I punched a tree in petulantly, causing Odd and Yumi to jump. "That bastard! I swear when I see him I'm gonna-"

At that moment, a few yards away from us, I perceived a dirty blonde haired boy, his hand interlocked with Dialla's. She reluctantly was following, an annoyed look on her face. I marched towards them but was jerked to a stop when a pale hand grabbed my wrist. Yumi quickly pulled me back seconds before the brunette turned in our direction.

"What are you doing? Let go, Yumi!" I snapped.

"There's nothing you can do about it for now," she reminded me. "As long as he has her diary, she has to be his girlfriend. However, Dialla's going to convince Mike to show her his room. Then, we can go sometime when he's not home and find her diary. Then you two are back together again!"

Anger still marred my face, but I quelled my pursuit to follow him. Odd and Yumi convinced me to spend the rest of the day with them, in order to calm myself down. I agreed and we went into the rec room.

Dialla's POV

After meeting up with Mike in the park, he offered to show me his house. I smiled and agreed, feigning the perfect, happy girlfriend, when in reality, I wanted to rip his head off. He interlocked his fingers with mine and I managed a smile as he led me away from the school. As we walked to his house, he meandered mostly about trivial things and I finally paid attention when he mention how long he would be staying here for.

"I might be here for a few weeks, since my Dad got sent here for the army. Which means, I'll be going to school with you," he said. "Isn't that great?"

My answer was a curt nod. "Yeah! That's wonderful!"

_Dammit, I didn't expect that. I completely forgot his dad was in the military. This is bad._

Mike looked at me strangely but I distracted him by questioning where his house was. He pointed to a large house on the left, approximately 10 blocks away from my own house. As he led me around his house I realized he hasn't changed a bit. He began rambling about his family, mentioning that no one was home from the time he woke up to go to school, to the time he came home which was at five. School ended at four, so that left one hour to come up with a plan.

After staying at his house for an hour, and managing to avoid kissing him, my dad called me home for dinner. I left as quick as I could, calling Yumi and telling her about the information I've received. She thanked me and said she would think of a plan. I was a little hesitant on whether or not to question her about Ulrich but a voice in the background called her name and she hung up. I reached my house and quickly ate my dinner then headed back to the school. The next morning, I was too upset to say hi to Ulrich. I assumed he felt the same way. Hell, I wouldn't blame him if he hated me. And as if that wasn't bad enough, Mike was in almost all of my classes with the exception of math. Thank God he was in Smart Math. Biology was are only time alone and Mrs. Hertz announced that we would be doing a lab experiment and she had partners picked for us.

I prayed as long and as hard as I possibly could but of course karma is a bitch and she placed me with Ulrich. We remained silent and for half of the class time I avoided eye contact with him. It was when we started mixing two chemicals when I screwed up. I poured too much and the beaker overflowed, the foaming substance spilled onto my hand. The stinging pain and burning soon followed.

"Ow, ouch!" I cried and dropped the object. It shattered against the table and the classroom grew silent.

"Oh, my, Dialla are you alright?" wondered Mrs. Hertz.

Ulrich noticed my injured hand. "Here, let me see it."

He reached for my hand, but I flinched involuntarily and moved it. His face hardened and he grabbed my wrist and pulled it closer to him. He shifted his hand when I winced to a point where we were practically holding hands. I felt my face go hot and gained a sudden interest in my burned hand. It was bright red and hurt like hell. Ulrich took me to the nurse, who told me to run it under cold water for a few minutes while she got some spray and bandages. She sprayed some antiseptic on my hand which made is sting more. I flinched and Ulrich wrapped the bandaged around my hand as she left to take care of some student who fainted.

As Ulrich bandaged my hand, I was disputing on whether to interrogate him.

I took a small breath. "Why... Why are you being nice? And taking care of me? Don't you hate me?"

He didn't answer until he finished with my hand. Then he sighed.

"Yumi told me what happened. About you and your ex-boyfriend," he said slowly, "And I've got to admit, I was pretty mad at first. But after I calmed down, I began to think clearer And I understand why you couldn't tell me the truth. You had to make it look real so he would believe it. And to answer your question, no, I don't hate you. I don't hate you, because you still have on the necklace I gave you for Christmas."

I actually forgot that I never took it off. Subconsciously, my hand reached up and touched it. I didn't need to take it off the know what is said.

"I love you, Dialla. And no matter what happens, I always will," he promised and kissed me.

This kiss was different from usual. It was much more passionate than normal, not that I minded, but the kiss was also more rougher. His hands gripped my shoulders and pulled me closer to him while my arms rested on his chest.

To my dismay, he pulled away seconds before the door opened and the nurse came in. Following her like a puppy, was Jim carrying a small unconscious boy. Ulrich and I got up and left the infirmary at the same time the bell rang for the next period, lunch. For the rest of the day, Mike made sure I was with him at all times, with very few exceptions. Those exceptions being the bathroom or to talk with Yumi or Aelita. He liked them because they were girls, but he absolutely hated Odd, Jeremy and Ulrich. While talking to Yumi, she told me that her and Ulrich would sneak into his house and look for something to help but I had to make sure Mike stayed away. In other words, a _date. _I reluctantly agreed and took Mike to the movies after school. We watched some stupid zombie movie while I was surreptitiously texting Ulrich to see how he was doing. He said that he and Yumi were inside Mike's room and were searching for my diary. I prayed to God that he wasn't smart and kept it with him. After about a half hour, Mike placed his arm around me and tried to pull me so my head would rest on his shoulder.

I knew that if I didn't obey, he would think something was up, so I placed my head on his shoulder, agitation marring my face. I received another text message and when I opened it it said that they found my diary. I shut my phone and quickly said I had to go to the bathroom. As I got up his hand connected with my butt and I froze, tempted to bitch-slap him. I quelled that thought and quickly left the theatre. I dialled Ulrich's number as I left the movies, running as fast as I could to Mike's house.

"Dialla? What's up?" he asked, answering on the first ring.

"I just left Mike at the theatre and I'm on my way to his house. You guys really found the diary?"

"Yeah, he hid it under his pillow. What an idiot,"

I laughed for a quick second hung up and took a short cut through the woods. I hadn't realized how far away his house was from the movie theatre until I was gasping for breath at the his house. Ulrich and Yumi appeared from behind a corner and Yumi waved my purple book triumphantly. I shrieked with joy and hugged both of them.

"You guys are the best!" I released them and pulled out my phone. "Now to go break up with that jerk."

I didn't feel like talking him, so I just sent him a text message. Then, Ulrich, Yumi and I went to go hang out in the rec room since I was free of Mike.


	24. Freeing the Trapped

I apologize for the long delay I've been busy with school and I've been working on another story on a different website. If any of you wish to read it, all you have to do, is go to , go under the Writing Tab and click Search. Then, type in Tower of Swords. Look for the one written by Emiko (that's me) and then enjoy!

As for this story, I plan on ended it soon, probably the next chapter or so. I really doubt I'll be making a sequel, but if I do I hope you'll enjoy it. Anyway, here is chapter 24! Enjoy and please review!

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Ulrich and I were sitting in the forest near the hermitage. Ulrich had his back against the tree and my head was in his lap. He stroked my hair and my eyes were closed. Birds talked to each other among trees but other than that, it was silent. Silent and peaceful. With Mike gone, Ulrich and I acted like nothing had happened. And it was great. Unfortunately, our peacefulness didn't last long as Ulrich's phone rang. He answered it but I kept my eyes closed.

"Yeah, Jeremy?" A pause. "You sure? Okay, we'll be right there."

I groaned at that and he hung up. "Dialla, guess what?"

"XANA decided to give us a few more minutes of peace?"

"No, Jeremy found a program to free Dan and William!"

I rolled out of his lap and sat up on my knees. "Seriously?! Let's go!"

We skated through the sewers and arrived at the factory where the others were waiting.

"Jeremy! Is it true? You found a way to bring them back?" I asked, running into the computer lab.

He nodded. "Yeah, we have to go to the Ice Replica though. There's a program that needs to be launched from the supercomputer there at the same time Dan and William are devirtualized."

"Basically, there's no room for mistakes," Ulrich simplified.

"What about that new monster, the Kolossus? How are we going to defeat it?" Aelita questioned.

"Ulrich, Yumi and I will take care of ugly. You and Odd need to focus on the program." I assured her.

Ulrich and Yumi nodded in agreement and Jeremy sent us to Lyoko. Aelita piloted the Skid and we arrived at the Ice Replica. Odd and Aelita were sent to Earth while Ulrich, Yumi and I protected the Skid.

For a few minutes, it was pretty quiet. Then Jeremy picked up William, Dan and some Mantas. He programed our vehicles and we took off. Yumi took care of the Mantas, Ulrich handled William and I battled Dan. Dan fired his beam and it devirtualized my Overboard. As I fell, I threw one of my boomerangs at him. It hit the Manta he was flying and it exploded. I reattached the boomerang to my shoulder and landed on my feet. Dan landed on his feet and staggered a little bit. We charged at each other. After battling evenly with each other, my eyes lost their pupil as did his. Our abilities increased dramatically, but we were still pretty even. He swung his sword down and I swung mine upward. My move was faster and I was able to cut through his sword and destroy it. He flinched and fired his cannon at me. I brought up my shield at the last second and the beam connected with the shield then exploded, sending me flying.

I bounced on the ground and slid a little bit. When I stopped, I rolled to the right as he fired his cannon again. I materilized my guns and fired at him a few times, then activated my booster and soared in the air. He copied me and fired his gun at me. Jeremy mentioned that he upgraded my booster so I could fly for five minutes now. We had a little air fight for a while until I saw William jump into the Digital Sea.

"Jeremy! William just--"

"Yeah, I know. XANA's taking power from all the other Replicas and I think I know why."

A moment later the Kolossus rose from the Digital Sea, William standing smugly on its shoulder. I forgot how ugly the thing was. Ulrich leapt onto the Kolossus' arm and Yumi threw a fan at the Eye of XANA on its head. Although it made contact, the Kolossus remained stable. I perceived another Eye of its arm. This thing was going to be tough to beat.

I turned my attention back to Dan as he continued to fire at me. I shielded his attack and tried to fire at him, but his beam pierced my gun and it exploded. I flew back a little due to the explosion and glared at him. I took out both my swords and attacked him, but screwed up and he stole one of my swords. We flew at each other and clashed for a brief second then swooped around and clashed again, struggling for dominance. Dan pulled away and fired his cannon at me, then his gun. I flew down, avoiding the whitish blue beam then shielded his green one. I told Jeremy to program me another sword, since I knew I wouldn't be able to take mine back. He did so, and a new sword appeared in my right hilt, but I decided to save it for later.

Yumi soon got devirtualized by the Kolossus' arm and Ulrich battled William on top of it. Dan fired his gun at me and I allowed my sword to take the blow and it spiraled out of my hand as I flew down then towards him quickly. I pulled out my sword and slashed his left arm, knocking the cannon away. Then I spun around quickly and kicked him in the back and fired twice at him. The first beam knocked his gun out of his hand and the second beam hit him in the chest. It wasn't enough to devirtualize him because I had to wait for Jeremy's signal, but it stunned him. He landed on the ground and I pursued him then planted my foot on his chest to keep him still. I looked over and Ulrich was in the same situation.

"Jeremy!" Ulrich cried.

"Right.....now!"

I brought my sword down but it pierced the icy floor. I blinked, surprised, then noticed a shadow looming above me. I looked up and saw the Kolossus' foot coming down on me. I was able to get away at the last second, but Ulrich was a little more unfortunate. Dan appeared in a cloud of smoke, his back to me and I took this chance. I fired at him and he dissipated in red smoke. I smiled in joy and searched for William. His sword sliced through my torso and I was devirtualized. However, Odd devirtualized him a moment later, having been devirtualized while on Earth he had appeared back in the Skid. I appeared in the Scanner and held my stomach, moaning in pain. I looked up and my little brother lay unconscious on the floor. I rushed to him, despite being exhausted and placed his head in my lap.

His green eyes flickered open and focused on my face. He smiled weakly and I sighed with relief. William stumbled out of his scanner and Yumi and Ulrich supported him. Aelita appeared in her scanner soon after. We celebrated briefly but Jeremy completely and utterly killed the mood by saying that the Skid was destroyed. I was going to make a snappy comment, but kept my mouth shut. I was just glad to have my brother back and now we could get rid of those stupid clones. Although, with the Skid destroyed, we couldn't destroy his replicas.

"Although, it's not nessicary anymore," Jeremy said.

We all stared at him, begging him to explain. "I've created a multi-agent system that should be able to wipe XANA out for good."

"What about my father? And Tyler?" Aelita asked.

Silence enveloped the area for a long period of time. We all knew what it meant. Thankfully, Dan changed the subject by arbitrarily yelling that he was late for lunch. We got a little humor out of that and strolled to lunch.


	25. The Final Battle

Here is the final chapter of Life as a Lyoko Warrior. I know it's short and I apologize. Review if you want me to write a sequel (and if I can think of one).

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With the Skid gone, there was no way for us to attack the Replicas. Dan and William remembered vaguely what had happened and wanted to help us. It turns out that Dan had been following us - my Dad's orders, supposedly - and was able to send himself to Lyoko. I didn't really care for the details I was just glad to have him back. I trusted Dan, since it wasn't his fault he got trapped, but I didn't like William. Aelita was the only one who trusted him. Why she did, I wasn't sure. Jeremy had said that his multi-agent system was ready to be launched and that he had been contacted by Tyler and Franz Hopper. We were at breakfast when he called and Dan and William wanted to tag along.

"Absolutely not. No way," I said firmly. "You are _not_ coming with us, Dan."

"But why not? I can help!" he whined.

"No. XANA captured you once, he can do it again. Besides, you're not like the rest of us. You're not strong enough,"

He pouted but reluctantly left us. After dealing with Sissi stalking us, thankfully Alex came to the rescue, we finally arrived at the Factory. Jeremy explained that they were on the Ice Sector of Lyoko and all of us were to go.

"Yeah, what about us?" a new voice said. William. And since he said _us_, I assumed Dan was with him, too.

I scowled at Dan, who smiled proudly at me. I was about to dispute with him, but Jeremy spoke first.

"William and Dan will stay here with me. If you need back-up, I'll send them. For now, you guys head to the Scanner Room," he ordered.

I gave one last look at Dan, then disappeared into the elevator. Jeremy virtualized us all onto Lyoko for the last time and I landed fluidly on my feet. Jeremy led us over to a waterfall where Tyler was waiting for me. I sauntered over to the waterfall and a shiny silver energy mass was waiting for me.

"Hello, Dialla, I've been waiting for you," he said in a computerised voice

"Wow, I'm talking with a ball of energy on a virtual world. I must be the luckiest girl in the world," I said.

"Focus Dialla," I frowned at his seriousness. "Franz Hopper is currently giving your friend Jeremy some data to help with his program to destroy XANA."

"That's great!"

"However," he continued sternly. "I need you to perform one task for me."

"Hmm? What's that?"

"I need you to destroy me."

I stared blankly at him for several long moments.

"Wha--" My question was interrupted by the ground shaking violently. Outside the waterfall, the rest of the Lyoko Warriors were fighting off a couple of mantas and the Kolossus. Cursing, I ran to join my friends. Jeremy ordered Odd, me and Aelita to guard Franz Hopper, who appeared as a purple ball, and Tyler. I personally don't like being a bodyguard, but it wasn't the time to argue about it. Ulrich managed to get onto the Kolossus' arm and was now making his way up its body. Apparently XANA possessed Dan and William, again, and were beating up Jeremy so Yumi went back to the factory to help him. Jeremy came back to us moments later and told us to get to Sector 5 in order to start his program.

"How are we supposed to get to Sector 5?" Odd exclaimed. "The Kolossus will just smack the transporter around like a ping pong ball!"

"Leave it to me!" Ulrich cried, now at the head of the Kolossus. He stabbed his sword into the Eye of XANA and now began to dangle. Waiting until he had a good angle of the other target on its arm, Ulrich let go and stabbed that with his other sword. He hit the icy floor hard and I heard him moan in pain. The teleporter appeared and took Odd, Aelita and I to Sector 5 while Ulrich got devirtualized by the Kolossus falling on him. We arrived at the celestial dome (or what ever the f*** it's called) and Aelita started doing her techy business. More Mantas appeared and Odd was soon devirtualized. I got shot in the shoulder and Jeremy declared that I had forty life points left. I took a couple out with my boomerangs and guns. Aelita got shot in the stomach and sank to her knee. I got in front of her and projected my shield in case more attacks came.

More attacks did come, but not at us. Instead, two Manta were firing at Franz Hopper. I wasn't sure why, at first, but then Jeremy ordered Aelita to run the program, explaining quickly that he was giving us power. She did so and nothing happened.

"Jeremy, nothing's happening," Aelita stated, puzzled.

"I don't get it. What's going on?" Jeremy wondered.

I thought about what Tyler said. _I need you to destroy me._

"Jeremy! Where's Tyler?" I asked abruptly.

"Uh, he's in the middle of Sector 5."

"I need you to lead me to him."

"Huh? Wh--"

"Just do it!"

He obeyed without any more questions and after nearly getting crushed by a falling wall I finally made it to where my father was. Still the silver orb, he actually looked kind of pretty but I didn't say anything. Aiming my guns at him, I fired twice. He absorbed the green beams, but I wasn't sure if he took any damage so I fired again.

"Dialla! What are you doing?!" Jeremy exclaimed.

"I think my dad is somehow jamming the program," I said.

"Are you insane?"

"He told me to destroy him, Jeremy!" I snapped, angrily.

He fell silent and I continued firing. I tried connecting the guns into one, making the beam more powerful, but it still didn't appear to do any damage. I was really getting impatient so I pulled out my swords and connected them quickly. Activating my booster, I flew at him and swung my double-edged sword. It connected and began to cut the orb in half. As it did, I could see my dad vividly.

He was dressed in his usual lab coat and his eyes - my eyes - were full of a cross between sadness and happiness.

"Dialla," he said, his voice echoing throughout Lyoko. "Thank you. I love you."

The next thing I knew, I was in Scanner Room. The elevator opened and Ulrich, Yumi, Odd and Jeremy appeared. Yumi was being supported by Odd and I was confused by why Jeremy was here until Aelita appeared in her scanner. Aelita had tears in her eyes and the truth hit all of us hard. I had killed my own father, and Franz Hopper had sacrificed himself in order to run the program. I took half a step out of the Scanner before sinking to my knees, sobbing hard. Strong yet gentle arms wrapped around my and pulled me into a warm chest. Ulrich stroked my hair and held me the whole time I cried.

A couple of days passed and we were back at the Factory. After considering it, we had all decided unanimously to shut down Lyoko for good now that XANA was defeated. Ulrich's hand found mine and our fingers entertiwned. I assumed William had finally managed to win Yumi's heart as they too held hands. There was a long period of uncomfortable silence and Jeremy took a deep breath and pulled the plug, shutting down Lyoko forever.


	26. ATTENTION READERS! PLEASE READ!

Hey there!

So, I've gotten a couple of messages and reviews from people asking if I was going to make a sequel for "Life as a Lyoko Warrior". Unfortunately, no. I have put some thought into it, but I've decided it just wouldn't really work out. I've even been thinking about making a totally new Lyoko story, and that also failed. :(

However, I am working on a book that I hope to someday get published called "The Fire Seal". It is on the website . If you want to read it, all you have to do is go to that site, search "The Fire Seal" and it should appear. Feel free to read it, but if you want to comment on it you have to become a member. This site is great for people who want to become authors and it is really easy to use. So, even if you don't check out my book, please just check the site out. It's very good.

Thanks a lot!

Superduper101 :)

P.S Okay, for some reason, the address of the website doesn't want to show up which is really irritating, so I'll just leave it as a review. Stupid thing.


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